References: (For Steve)
Simon Caddy - Simon Caddy Personal Trainer & Physical Therapist
Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD - www.fitwoman.com
Keith Klein - Institute of Eating Management - HOME
Professor Spakovsszky - Thermodynamics Home Page
Hunger Free Forever - Michael T. Murray, ND and Michael R. Lyon, MD
Chaos Theory - Chaos theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The first part of this new look, is that supposedly we are bound by the law of thermodynamics. Therefore the solution is to consume less energy than our output energy i.e. consume less calories than we expend. Well I have heard the word thermodynamics a couple of times, and there is a small (well actually huge) issue with really referring to our bodies and thermodynamics in the same problem/solution. The first reason being that our bodies are the single most complex and efficient machine know on the very face of this universe. If you believe in other life forms, then this planet. The smartest people on the face of this earth have yet to even tap into the amazement of our bodies. The smartest people on the planet have yet to figure out just how our bodies work, what they do, when they do it, and why they do it. We are not smarter than our bodies because we have not cured cancer yet or many other diseases.
The second issue being that thermodynamics is a VERY complicated area of study. As someone who deals with it on a daily basis, trust me some of the richest most prominent people have yet to figure out all of it. Just Google it and you will see the formulas involved. Also it really does not apply to our bodies as much as people would think, but I can totally see why people use it in that manner. It was first studied for the efficiency of fuel for steam engines.
Thermodynamics on the easiest level of understanding, is a statement of conservation of energy: The net change in internal energy (dE) equals the heat energy that flows in (TdS), minus the energy that flows out via the system performing work (pdV). Basically thermodynamics is the emery/heat that produces work/horsepower and the energy/heat that is lost in different aspects of said work/horsepower
So I can see where people would think of our calorie consumption is heat/work and what our body expends is the work/horsepower.
So this brings me to my point on calorie counting not working for the normal people. If our bodies were as bound by thermodynamics as some would say then we are forgetting the very heart of thermodynamics and not thinking about the EFFECIENCY of said calories and what is lost just from doing the work. This is the mile long formula that these smart people came up with because the formula to figure this number out has to be a mile long due to complexity of it. So this being said, our bodies are a million times more complicated.
1. We have to know at what rate our bodies burn calories for the calorie counting method to work. Getting this exact number is impossible. The closest and yet highly inaccurate way to get this number is by a controlled environment and running on a treadmill with a huge tube in your mouth all day. The reason even this is highly inaccurate is that your body is efficient and this number is constantly changing on different variables. It depends on your muscle mass, breathing techniques, fat storage, and a million other things. The calorie counters on cardio machines, you mine as well put 10 numbers in a hat and pull one out. You will get a more accurate number.
2. You would have to know the exact amount of calories our bodies in a given day to survive and to support muscle mass. For the exact same reasons above getting this exact number is impossible. Calorie/BMI/Harris-Benedict formulas are not accurate. The counters on the internet, refer to the hat statement. The formulas are a tad bit more accurate, but still there is no way to know. Different nutrients get converted at different times and one hundred different things happen to your body when converting energy. On top of this our bodies learn to adapt almost immediately! So as you cut those calories, your body quickly responds by living off lower calories. It's like fuel management on my truck. Once my truck realizes (via a computer) that I am actually traveling a long distance today then it drops a cylinder so I get better gas mileage. Your body will always be at 100% efficiency accept for small time frames of change. I mean it needs a little time to adapt. So for the week of you eating 500 less calories, by the end of that week your body will have changed things up for you to now run perfect off the 500 less calories. So someone who is obese, you will lose initial weight, but you will eventually be either continuing to lower calories at a dangerous level looking for the scale to move, or you will stop losing weight and plateau for a long period of time.
For the theory calories in must be less that calories out to lose weight to work then the opposite would have to ring true. For most of us who overeat on a daily basis, and seeing what some people eat on a daily basis then a lot of us would be close to the 1000lb range. Your body is MUCH more inclined to store rather than burn. Our bodies have not caught up to technology and the times, and actually still a little archaic. Our bodies want to store more than burn from famine times a long time ago. On top of that however our bodies adapt to the higher calories as well. So as we eat more calories our bodies burn more calories (why the calculators tell heavier people they need more calories to live) however the body again being the most efficient thing on the face of this plant/universe it does not waste a single bit of energy. So if your body can run a certain muscle with just a bit of your calories then it will and save the rest for a different muscle and a different time. It will not be wasteful.
So if counting calories is the perfect explanation then why are so many people overweight? Why does Weight Watchers fail more people than who succeed? Why did it not work for me when I was as obsessed as I was about them? If I can eat what I want and just make sure I burn more calories than I eat then why has not everyone done this and gotten perfect results? Well one is only a few people actually stick with counting calories for the rest of their life, and there can only be a small room for error so eating out and at a friend’s house is really out of the question.
People lose the initial weight mainly by shock to the body. Your body scrambles to adapt to your new style and therefore actually works harder to adapt the quickest it can and burns off the excess storages for the extra fuel. Basically the Chaos Theory applies here. So if our bodies scramble to adapt and burns off excess storage to adapt quickly and if we keep our bodies in this current state a lot then we have chaos.
So this is where calorie counting turns into a nightmare. One our bodies adapt and we think we failed or the "diet" is no longer working so we give up and try something else. Or we call it maintaining or plateaus and keep it up for as long as we can until we realize we have to make some changes. Or we realize that we need to keep our bodies in a current state of chaos so now our simple calories in/calories out have become this huge math obsession with carb loading, carb depletion, three days of eating 1500 calories and then 4 days of eating 2000 calories. Not only that, but your body does separate your fuels from best to worst for the current use.
There is no set thermal effect of food. It varies substantially, but for the most part and in the simplest form. Fat is the most efficient macronutrient with 0-3% being used up for processing and heat, carbs are the second most efficient with 5-10% going to processing and heat, and protein almost 20-30% to processing and heat. This is why you should eat plenty of protein because a lot of it gets "wasted" just in the processing stage. Fat on the other hand is the most efficient. At most only 3% of the fat you consume get "wasted" and therefore that is why excess fat leads to fat storage. Your body likes to store fat because that is the first thing that your body wants to use for energy when doing work/exercise.
So it makes sense that a diet high in protein, moderate carbs, and low fat (per serving) matched with a pretty strenuous exercise regimen would be not only an effective way to lose weight but also the difference in calories that would be consuming from day to day (instead of that 1500 a day) would keep your body in a steady state of chaos.
Simon Caddy - Simon Caddy Personal Trainer & Physical Therapist
Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD - www.fitwoman.com
Keith Klein - Institute of Eating Management - HOME
Professor Spakovsszky - Thermodynamics Home Page
Hunger Free Forever - Michael T. Murray, ND and Michael R. Lyon, MD
Chaos Theory - Chaos theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The first part of this new look, is that supposedly we are bound by the law of thermodynamics. Therefore the solution is to consume less energy than our output energy i.e. consume less calories than we expend. Well I have heard the word thermodynamics a couple of times, and there is a small (well actually huge) issue with really referring to our bodies and thermodynamics in the same problem/solution. The first reason being that our bodies are the single most complex and efficient machine know on the very face of this universe. If you believe in other life forms, then this planet. The smartest people on the face of this earth have yet to even tap into the amazement of our bodies. The smartest people on the planet have yet to figure out just how our bodies work, what they do, when they do it, and why they do it. We are not smarter than our bodies because we have not cured cancer yet or many other diseases.
The second issue being that thermodynamics is a VERY complicated area of study. As someone who deals with it on a daily basis, trust me some of the richest most prominent people have yet to figure out all of it. Just Google it and you will see the formulas involved. Also it really does not apply to our bodies as much as people would think, but I can totally see why people use it in that manner. It was first studied for the efficiency of fuel for steam engines.
Thermodynamics on the easiest level of understanding, is a statement of conservation of energy: The net change in internal energy (dE) equals the heat energy that flows in (TdS), minus the energy that flows out via the system performing work (pdV). Basically thermodynamics is the emery/heat that produces work/horsepower and the energy/heat that is lost in different aspects of said work/horsepower
So I can see where people would think of our calorie consumption is heat/work and what our body expends is the work/horsepower.
So this brings me to my point on calorie counting not working for the normal people. If our bodies were as bound by thermodynamics as some would say then we are forgetting the very heart of thermodynamics and not thinking about the EFFECIENCY of said calories and what is lost just from doing the work. This is the mile long formula that these smart people came up with because the formula to figure this number out has to be a mile long due to complexity of it. So this being said, our bodies are a million times more complicated.
1. We have to know at what rate our bodies burn calories for the calorie counting method to work. Getting this exact number is impossible. The closest and yet highly inaccurate way to get this number is by a controlled environment and running on a treadmill with a huge tube in your mouth all day. The reason even this is highly inaccurate is that your body is efficient and this number is constantly changing on different variables. It depends on your muscle mass, breathing techniques, fat storage, and a million other things. The calorie counters on cardio machines, you mine as well put 10 numbers in a hat and pull one out. You will get a more accurate number.
2. You would have to know the exact amount of calories our bodies in a given day to survive and to support muscle mass. For the exact same reasons above getting this exact number is impossible. Calorie/BMI/Harris-Benedict formulas are not accurate. The counters on the internet, refer to the hat statement. The formulas are a tad bit more accurate, but still there is no way to know. Different nutrients get converted at different times and one hundred different things happen to your body when converting energy. On top of this our bodies learn to adapt almost immediately! So as you cut those calories, your body quickly responds by living off lower calories. It's like fuel management on my truck. Once my truck realizes (via a computer) that I am actually traveling a long distance today then it drops a cylinder so I get better gas mileage. Your body will always be at 100% efficiency accept for small time frames of change. I mean it needs a little time to adapt. So for the week of you eating 500 less calories, by the end of that week your body will have changed things up for you to now run perfect off the 500 less calories. So someone who is obese, you will lose initial weight, but you will eventually be either continuing to lower calories at a dangerous level looking for the scale to move, or you will stop losing weight and plateau for a long period of time.
For the theory calories in must be less that calories out to lose weight to work then the opposite would have to ring true. For most of us who overeat on a daily basis, and seeing what some people eat on a daily basis then a lot of us would be close to the 1000lb range. Your body is MUCH more inclined to store rather than burn. Our bodies have not caught up to technology and the times, and actually still a little archaic. Our bodies want to store more than burn from famine times a long time ago. On top of that however our bodies adapt to the higher calories as well. So as we eat more calories our bodies burn more calories (why the calculators tell heavier people they need more calories to live) however the body again being the most efficient thing on the face of this plant/universe it does not waste a single bit of energy. So if your body can run a certain muscle with just a bit of your calories then it will and save the rest for a different muscle and a different time. It will not be wasteful.
So if counting calories is the perfect explanation then why are so many people overweight? Why does Weight Watchers fail more people than who succeed? Why did it not work for me when I was as obsessed as I was about them? If I can eat what I want and just make sure I burn more calories than I eat then why has not everyone done this and gotten perfect results? Well one is only a few people actually stick with counting calories for the rest of their life, and there can only be a small room for error so eating out and at a friend’s house is really out of the question.
People lose the initial weight mainly by shock to the body. Your body scrambles to adapt to your new style and therefore actually works harder to adapt the quickest it can and burns off the excess storages for the extra fuel. Basically the Chaos Theory applies here. So if our bodies scramble to adapt and burns off excess storage to adapt quickly and if we keep our bodies in this current state a lot then we have chaos.
So this is where calorie counting turns into a nightmare. One our bodies adapt and we think we failed or the "diet" is no longer working so we give up and try something else. Or we call it maintaining or plateaus and keep it up for as long as we can until we realize we have to make some changes. Or we realize that we need to keep our bodies in a current state of chaos so now our simple calories in/calories out have become this huge math obsession with carb loading, carb depletion, three days of eating 1500 calories and then 4 days of eating 2000 calories. Not only that, but your body does separate your fuels from best to worst for the current use.
There is no set thermal effect of food. It varies substantially, but for the most part and in the simplest form. Fat is the most efficient macronutrient with 0-3% being used up for processing and heat, carbs are the second most efficient with 5-10% going to processing and heat, and protein almost 20-30% to processing and heat. This is why you should eat plenty of protein because a lot of it gets "wasted" just in the processing stage. Fat on the other hand is the most efficient. At most only 3% of the fat you consume get "wasted" and therefore that is why excess fat leads to fat storage. Your body likes to store fat because that is the first thing that your body wants to use for energy when doing work/exercise.
So it makes sense that a diet high in protein, moderate carbs, and low fat (per serving) matched with a pretty strenuous exercise regimen would be not only an effective way to lose weight but also the difference in calories that would be consuming from day to day (instead of that 1500 a day) would keep your body in a steady state of chaos.