What's the deal with fat/carbs/protein versus calories?

A

Ando3242

New member
We have all pretty much heard that losing weight is simply a matter of burning more calories than you take in. But how do fat, carbs, and protein figure into this? Considering the whole calorie deficit thing it just seems like eating a turkey sandwich with lettuce and mustard with the same amount of calories as a sugar loaded soda would be equivalent. Eating a 300 something calorie double cheese burger from Mcdonalds equivalent to eating a 300 calorie grilled chicken salad with light ranch? Eating some slim jims loaded with saturated fat or a piece of lean meat with the same amount of calories?

I just don't get it. Can anyone clarify me?
 
there is a difference between calories for weight loss and actual nutrition.

Just use common sense.
 
At first you may think: Well, it's the same shit, let's eat a big MAc! :D

But, oh-oh! Surprise!


A calorie is a unit of energy that measures how much energy food provides to the body. The body needs calories to function properly.

The calories in food come from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. A gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories. A gram of protein also contains 4 calories. A gram of fat, though, contains 9 calories — more than twice the amount of the other two.

That's why one food with the same serving size as another may have far more calories. A high-fat food has many more calories than a food that's low in fat and higher in protein or carbohydrates.

For instance, a ½-cup serving of vanilla ice cream contains:

178 total calories
2 grams of protein (2 grams times 4 calories = 8 calories from protein)
12 grams of fat (12 grams times 9 calories = 108 calories, or 61%, from fat)
15.5 grams of carbohydrate (15.5 grams times 4 calories = 62 calories from carbohydrate)
Compare this with the same serving size (½ cup) of cooked carrots:

36 total calories
1 gram of protein (1 gram times 4 calories = 4 calories from protein)
0 grams of fat (0 grams times 0 calories = 0 calories from fat)
8 grams of carbohydrate (8 grams times 4 calories = 32 calories from carbohydrate)
So fat makes quite a difference when it comes to total calories in a food.

But let's face it, who's going to choose a heaping bowl of cooked carrots over ice cream on a hot summer day? It all comes down to making sensible food choices most of the time. The goal is to make tradeoffs that balance a higher-fat food with foods that are lower in fat to keep the fat intake at 30% for the day. So if you really want that ice cream, it's OK once in a while — as long as you work in some lower-fat foods, like carrots, that day.
 
Like Jericho said, eating McD's every meal isn't healthy, but you CAN lose weight doing it. Unlike Jericho however, I believe that your food choices can affect the way your body processes calories. After a workout, for instance, your body needs to build muscle, refill the lost ATP and CTP, and generally recover, which means that your body is going to process whatever you eat, within the next hour to the next day, for meeting it's requirements. I think the same process applies even when you subtract the exercise part of it - i.e. certain foods can affect the way your body processes calories, either storing them as fat or muscle or sugar or energy.

Hope that makes sense.
 
You need protein to repair and maintain muscles. Muscle burns calories to exist...fat doesn't. If you don't get those proteins, your body will canibalize itself of protein robbing you of muscle meaning your basil metabolic rate goes down. You need certain complex carbs for your body to properly utilize the protein and take it through the body. You also need a certain amount of fat and simple carbs in your diet, but on a much more limited basis than protein and complex carbs. The make-up of your calories is as important as the total. I stick to 35-40% of calories from protein, 10-15% from fat, 45-55% from carbs (with >50% of carbs complex). Whatever total number of calories you plan to eat per day, this ratio seems to be ideal for exercise, health, and losing fat rather than muscle.
 
BugDude said:
Muscle burns calories to exist...fat doesn't.
Click to expand...

After thinking on this for a while, I finally figured out why it bugs me - Muscle doesn't BURN calories to exist, it REQUIRES them.

I don't think the point of what you're saying is lost or changed, I just wanted to clarify.
 
Toddless said:
After thinking on this for a while, I finally figured out why it bugs me - Muscle doesn't BURN calories to exist, it REQUIRES them.

I don't think the point of what you're saying is lost or changed, I just wanted to clarify.
Click to expand...

Either way...muscle requires calories just to exist and fat does not. Protein feeds muscles and certain complex carbs are necessary to process the protein into a usable fashion by the muscle. All of these and other various body processes need different make-up of calories found in a balanced diet. That's why 1500 calories of fish, vegetables, and starch will have a different impact on your body from 1500 calories of cake.
 
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