Let's talk calories...

I'm interested in calories. They drive me crazy, but I am interested in them.

A calorie is a measurement of energy; specifically the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. We then equate this measurement of energy to refer to the amount of energy in a food made available through metabolism. 

Our bodies cannot create energy. We can use the energy we have stored in our fat and muscles and we can use (or store) the energy from the food we eat, but we can't actually make energy. So...when we use more energy then we eat, we dip into our stored energy (in fat and muscle tissue) and over time, we lose weight. One pound of body fat can store about 3,500 calories of energy. So mathematically, if we create a 3,500 calorie deficit (say eating 500 calories less than we expended every day for a week) we could lose 1 pound.  

But then the fun begins. How many calories do we burn in a typical day? There are lots of formulas, apps, and gadgets that can help you estimate this number; emphasis on estimate. And every day is a little different. Not just the obvious - today, I ran for 45 minutes vs yesterday, I curled up on the couch and watched Netflix all day - but the not so obvious..... Your sex, height, weight, age, activity levels, and amount of muscle mass you currently carry are obvious caloric expenditure predictors. But also things like medication, stress, sleep and behavior issues, temperature, and even the specific food choices we make (what and when we eat) can directly influence caloric expenditure.

If you are maintaining your current weight, you can assume you are typically consuming about same number of calories as you are expending. That caloric balance equals weight maintenance. If over time, you ate more calories than you moved, you would eventually gain weight. If over time, you ate less calories then you moved, you would eventually lose weight. Our bodies are constantly shifting back and forth between a state of storing energy and using energy  - within the same day, even within the same hour - but it is the long term average of that caloric balance (or imbalance) that affects our weight. Don't even get me going on weight fluctuation - you can weigh yourself 3 times a day and get 3 different weights and make yourself crazy. Best to weigh yourself the same day of the week, same time of the day, wearing the same thing, with the scale in the same place on the bathroom floor. Think long term here - even if you aren't interested in gaining or losing weight, keeping an eye on your weight, even monthly, is a good idea.

So not only is trying to figure out your caloric expenditure difficult at best, trying to figure out your caloric consumption can be equally complicated. Yes, food labels are helpful. But legally, food labels can have up to a 25% error in accuracy. 25%!!! Isn't that crazy? Then you have the whole controversy of including/not including the calories from fiber in your daily total or what and how the true calories in alcohol and sugar alcohol are even measured. What about all the foods without labels: produce, unprocessed stuff, the whole foods we really should be eating? And let's face it, most of us aren't weighing and measuring our foods and in general, aren't that great at estimating the amounts we are eating. Throw in a few meals in restaurants (even if you found the calorie count of those meals, the accuracy of that number would be questionable) and we just start shaking our heads.

So should we ignore calories completely? I don't think so. But I don't think we should spend too much time trying to accurately quantify them all either.  Using the simple calories in, calories out math process, a calorie is a calorie, and we could lose weight eating donuts (as long as we expended more calories than our donuts added up to, day after day) but we would feel like...well, we'd feel like crap.

More then just calories, how do specific food choices make you feel? How does your body use different foods: fat, carbs, protein?

We know carbohydrates can be used as energy more quickly/easily than protein or fat. But we also know that as we age, (especially women -- with the fun of gradually producing less estrogen) there are changes in the way our bodies use those carbohydrates. Protein takes more energy to metabolize and impacts the thermic effect of food (which can account for about 20% of our total caloric expenditure). Both fat and protein take longer for the body to metabolize, so they tend to help fill us up a little more. 

So besides the number of calories, where those calories are coming from might make more of a difference, not only when it comes to weight loss goals but fitness in general. We need to find the right balance of fat, carbs, and protein to fit our goals and our lifestyle. Low and non fat diets can lead to hormonal imbalances and usually leave you feeling hungry often. High protein/ low or no carb diets can be tough on our organs, leave you feeling sluggish, and can be correlated to adverse health risks. Finding the right balance of healthy fats, lean protein, and less-processed carbohydrates is my goal.

That's why carb cycling appeals to me. That's why I think about when I eat, not just what I eat. Food is energy - fuel. Yes, I could lick the plate of a hot fudge brownie sundae, but thinking of food as fuel helps me make healthy choices more often.