{"id":1795650,"date":"2023-01-05T08:19:55","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T13:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1795650"},"modified":"2023-01-05T08:21:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T13:21:56","slug":"6-giant-myths-about-calories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/6-giant-myths-about-calories\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Big Myths About Calories"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F6-giant-myths-about-calories%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1795650&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b0c7826a9e832bafacd208c52f730fd986f0f04b.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/pdRtS2NreoeFkK5X7rjezxLf4FR.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"6-Giant-Myths-About-Calories\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b0c7826a9e832bafacd208c52f730fd986f0f04b_2_690x282.jpeg\" alt=\"6-Giant-Myths-About-Calories\" data-base62-sha1=\"pdRtS2NreoeFkK5X7rjezxLf4FR\" width=\"690\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b0c7826a9e832bafacd208c52f730fd986f0f04b_2_690x282.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b0c7826a9e832bafacd208c52f730fd986f0f04b.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b0c7826a9e832bafacd208c52f730fd986f0f04b.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"70584E\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nThe Biggest Untruths Debunk<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There probably isn\u2019t a topic in nutrition that\u2019s more tangled up in misinformation than calories, so let\u2019s blow up some of those myths.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>\nDamn You, Wilburn!<\/h3>\n<p>Sometimes I wish Wilburn Olin Atwater hadn\u2019t become a pioneer in the field of nutrition. I\u2019d have been happier if he\u2019d instead become a chimney sweep, corset maker, rag picker, or some other respectable late 19th-century profession.<\/p>\n<p>Atwater was the one who calculated the calorie count of macronutrients and compiled the calorie counts for around 4,000 common foods at that time. He built this room about the size of an old-time telephone booth \u2013 called the \u201crespiratory calorimeter\u201d \u2013 in which he confined subjects for up to five days while measuring the input of food and oxygen and the output of carbon dioxide, urea, ammonia, and feces, all of which he\u2019d use to calculate caloric intake.<\/p>\n<p>It was so complex that 16 people were needed to read the dials and perform the math.<\/p>\n<p>Since Atwater, or anybody else for that matter, didn\u2019t know about vitamins or minerals back then, he incorrectly rated certain foods as superior to other foods. He gave little attention to vegetables and meats, while he rated alcohol and meat highly, as it was high in calories.<\/p>\n<p>These were the first myths about calories in a long history of others. Sometimes I think we\u2019d all have better off if, instead of calorie counts appearing on food labels, we simply used a \u201ctraffic light\u201d approach: green means eat the food with impunity, yellow means moderation, and red means don\u2019t put that f-ing stuff in your mouth unless it\u2019s some sort of holiday.<\/p>\n<p>Anyhow, here are some of those calorie myths that have spawned since Atwater\u2019s time:<\/p>\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/c19eebfe074bd4cd0643a175b53fa65dcedb8267.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/rCQDHeqUNiX6sTxhnnIxJFrDQPB.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"Calorie Counts\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/c19eebfe074bd4cd0643a175b53fa65dcedb8267_2_689x388.jpeg\" alt=\"Calorie Counts\" data-base62-sha1=\"rCQDHeqUNiX6sTxhnnIxJFrDQPB\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/c19eebfe074bd4cd0643a175b53fa65dcedb8267_2_689x388.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/c19eebfe074bd4cd0643a175b53fa65dcedb8267_2_1033x582.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/c19eebfe074bd4cd0643a175b53fa65dcedb8267.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"C7D4C9\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nMyth 1 &#8211; Calorie Counts on Labels Are Accurate<\/h3>\n<p>Horsepucky is a common ingredient in calorie counts. The Food and Drug Administration allows for 20% \u201cmargin of allowance\u201d on such labels, which means a food that\u2019s listed as having 400 calories could have as many as 500 and still be in compliance with the law.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, the journal \u201cObesity\u201d tested a sampling of popular common snack foods and found that the actual calorie counts were only 4.3% higher (1) than what the label stated, but personally, that doesn\u2019t give me much solace about the whole calorie disparity issue.<\/p>\n<p>After all, anybody eating snack foods probably doesn\u2019t care so much about the exact number of calories contained in their polypropylene bags of Cheetos. They might think that nutrition labels are the same as fortune cookies with lottery numbers.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the possible caloric disparity in healthy\/healthier foods that gives me pause. Of course, that\u2019s all the more reason to try and stick with unprocessed foods where you pretty much know what you\u2019re getting. After all, it\u2019s much harder to fudge the calorie count of a cup of oatmeal or a 4-ounce pork chop.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b2c48ba8b7a4e9c3736d1ffa8c0ee99b592e6261.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/pvs5mYWOJ65Y0J89tCZeK3zYYgx.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"Digestion\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b2c48ba8b7a4e9c3736d1ffa8c0ee99b592e6261_2_689x388.jpeg\" alt=\"Digestion\" data-base62-sha1=\"pvs5mYWOJ65Y0J89tCZeK3zYYgx\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b2c48ba8b7a4e9c3736d1ffa8c0ee99b592e6261_2_689x388.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b2c48ba8b7a4e9c3736d1ffa8c0ee99b592e6261_2_1033x582.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/b2c48ba8b7a4e9c3736d1ffa8c0ee99b592e6261.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"627D8F\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nMyth 2: Your body absorbs all the calories in a food<\/h3>\n<p>All modern foods have their calorie count determined by them being burned in an Atwater-approved way: the \u201cbomb calorimeter.\u201d It looks like an ordinary Instant Pot, or something that stores your brain after you&#8217;re gone for future transplantation to a robot worker drone.<\/p>\n<p>It is a box, or cylinder, with two chambers. The outer chamber is filled by cold water. When the food in the bomb calorimeter has been burned, the observer records the temperature increase. The food is 1 calorie if the temperature of the water rises 1 degree per kilogram. It has 2 calories if it rises 2 degrees. You get the picture.<\/p>\n<p>When used to calculate the calorie content of food, the bomb calorimeter can be very accurate. The trouble is, our stomachs aren\u2019t bomb calorimeters. We don\u2019t incinerate foods, we DIGEST them, and the efficiency of said digestion is multi-factorial, the result being that we probably absorb about 90% of the caloric energy from the food we eat.<\/p>\n<p>The following three (3) were discovered by Dutch researchers who weighed and analysed the stool of 25 volunteers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Total calories taken from food: 89.4%<\/li>\n<li>The total calories taken from fat are 92.5%<\/li>\n<li>The total calories from protein are 86.9%<\/li>\n<li>The total amount of calories specifically absorbed from carbohydrates is 87.3%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Perhaps surprisingly, women absorbed even fewer calories from food compared to men \u2013 an average of 88% versus 91.8%. They also displayed a \u201ctrend\u201d towards less absorption of fat and carbohydrates than men, but it didn\u2019t reach statistical significance.<\/p>\n<p>These findings, if they are correct and representative of other populations than the Dutch, make you question the reliability of many of the diet and calorie studies that have been done over the past 50 years. Do past studies show that a 90% absorption rate is more reliable than a 95% one? It seems probable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/84671f667d2ed30ed852e3e7ab354245fbbc52ed.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/iThXQTI7yycjqEkYliKFoNofQId.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"Nuts Calories\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/84671f667d2ed30ed852e3e7ab354245fbbc52ed_2_689x388.jpeg\" alt=\"Nuts Calories\" data-base62-sha1=\"iThXQTI7yycjqEkYliKFoNofQId\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/84671f667d2ed30ed852e3e7ab354245fbbc52ed_2_689x388.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/84671f667d2ed30ed852e3e7ab354245fbbc52ed_2_1033x582.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/84671f667d2ed30ed852e3e7ab354245fbbc52ed.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"8E6E50\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nMyth 3 &#8211; The physical structure of a food or processing has no bearing on calories<\/h3>\n<p>Some foods are resistant to digestion for some reason (4). Let&#8217;s take almonds as an example. Although the label states that one ounce contains 168 calories per gram, digestion studies show that the average person absorbs only 129 calories per gram. Cashews are the same. An ounce has 137 calories, not the 163 listed on the label. Also, walnuts and pistachios.<\/p>\n<p>It likely has to do with the sturdy cell structure of the nuts\u2019 cell walls. Even though we pulverize them with our molars to break down the nuts, large amounts of the cells are left undisturbed. This protects them from any digestive juices or microbes and allows them to be assimilate. Pulses (grain legumes, such as beans, lentils, and dry peas) can be quite difficult to digest. This could also affect their caloric values.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the way food is cooked. You can increase the calories in sweet potatoes by cooking them more. \u201crelease.\u201d Raw sweet potatoes caused mice to lose weight. But, when they were given cooked sweet potatoes, the mice gained weight.<\/p>\n<p>Because they were grown in different environments and likely cooked under slightly but ultimately significant differences in conditions, sweet potatoes are not the same as other fruits or vegetables.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the same with meat. Mice that were fed raw meat lost 2 grams, while mice who were fed cooked meat only lost 1gram. The protein in meat is denatured and made easier to digest by cooking it.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s resistant starches, those foods whose molecular structure was changed \u2013 made more difficult to digest \u2013 by how the food was prepared or stored. Bread that is frozen and then toasted donates far fewer calories to the digestive system, as does rice or pasta that\u2019s been cooked, allowed to cool for several hours, and then reheated. (More information <a href=\"https:\/\/www.t-nation.com\/lean-built-eating\/how-to-de-fang-your-favorite-carbs\/\">here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, there\u2019s the ultimate freer-upper of calories \u2013 industrial processing. The more a food is macerated, the more it\u2019s pulverized, boiled, baked, and formed into little animal shapes, the less work the body has to do to assimilate its inherent energy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/7b20fb20da6e6d02a3f7a169f36a88a5113e46ad.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/hzfocbInh6Fd5fCmv7q8qMV1t0N.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"Eating-Meat\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/7b20fb20da6e6d02a3f7a169f36a88a5113e46ad_2_689x388.jpeg\" alt=\"Eating-Meat\" data-base62-sha1=\"hzfocbInh6Fd5fCmv7q8qMV1t0N\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/7b20fb20da6e6d02a3f7a169f36a88a5113e46ad_2_689x388.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/7b20fb20da6e6d02a3f7a169f36a88a5113e46ad_2_1033x582.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/7b20fb20da6e6d02a3f7a169f36a88a5113e46ad.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"8F5E4A\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nMyth #4: Too much protein will make you fat<\/h3>\n<p>Even though you may eat a lot of proteins, even up to 5.5x the daily recommended intake, it will not cause you to gain additional fat. Instead, it appears to have a <a href=\"https:\/\/forums.t-nation.com\/t\/eating-loads-of-protein-wont-make-you-fat\/\">protective effect<\/a> If the circumstances are right, you can also prevent fat from periods of increased energy intake.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Joey Antonio is a contributor to T Nation. He set out to \u201cdetermine the effects of a very high protein diet (4.4 g\/kg\/d) on body composition in resistance-trained men and women\u201d (9).<\/p>\n<p>The study design was straightforward: Thirty healthy weightlifting women and men were randomly assigned to either a CON (control) or HP (high protein) group. Over an eight-week period, the CON group was required to keep their training and dietary habits the same.<\/p>\n<p>The HP group was also given instructions to continue their normal training and dietary habits (i.e. maintain the same carbohydrate and fat intakes), but with an additional instruction to consume 4.4 grams protein per kilogram (or about 5.5 times RDA).<\/p>\n<p>According to math, the HP group would consume around 800 calories more per day than the CON group. These extra calories came from protein, 307 +\/69 grams, as opposed to the CON group&#8217;s 138 +\/ 42 grams.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the clincher: After 8 weeks, despite eating about 800 extra calories per day \u2013 all of it from protein \u2013 the HP group experienced no changes in body weight, fat mass, or fat-free mass. Great, but you may be raising an eyebrow over the fact that the participants didn\u2019t gain any muscle mass, either. Don&#8217;t worry. Antonio explained it in this manner:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe lack of body composition changes in our group may be attributed to the fact that it\u2019s very difficult for trained subjects to gain lean body mass and body weight in general without significant changes in their training program.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So, it appears that the HP group simply wasn\u2019t hitting it hard enough.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Protein can turn into body fat, but it\u2019s unlikely. Biochemically, turning dietary fat into body fat is, as you might guess, easy-peasy, and turning dietary carbohydrate into body fat isn\u2019t that much more difficult.<\/p>\n<p>However, turning protein into body fat is a different challenge. It takes several biochemical and hormonal steps and it\u2019s monitored closely by the liver, which metes out amino acids according to the body\u2019s metabolic needs (tissue breakdown, tissue synthesis, catabolism, anabolism, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>This means that you can be certain of the protein&#8217;s existence, regardless of what \u201ccommon sense\u201d It is possible to combine lifting with a caloric surplus to prevent fat gain.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/852928d96bddb7305c0e1c4266ae3f208f59c070.jpeg\" alt=\"Cheat-Meals-A-Rant\" data-base62-sha1=\"iZZGCTdupuUMaOjkzvKUP2d7j4k\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>\nMyth 5: One, Calorie-Rich Meal Will Help You Lose a Significant Amount of Fat<\/h3>\n<p>Scientists gave a group of healthy men one meal consisting of bread, jam and fruit juice. It contained 480 grams carbohydrate (about 1,900 cals), around 8 grams fat (about 70 cals), and some protein (12). For 10 hours, the scientists monitored their metabolic reactions.<\/p>\n<p>The majority of carbohydrate was converted to glycogen (346g), while the remaining 133g was used as fuel. It\u2019s true that their bodies converted some of the carbs to fat through a process called de novo lipogenesis (DNL), but it was only a measly 2 grams. That&#8217;s it. It only weighs 2 grams.<\/p>\n<p>The best part was that the subjects burned 17g of fat during the 10-hour follow up. That\u2019s 7 grams more fat than the combined total of what was in the meal (8 grams) and the fat they manufactured through DNL (2 grams), so they burned an additional 7 grams of body fat after the meal. The gross overfeeding resulted in zero net fat accumulation.<\/p>\n<p>Another study involved soaking their subjects in carbs for several days. Young adults ate 150% of their daily caloric intake for five days straight. But, only 50% of the calories came from carbs (or 684 grams of extra calories per person).<\/p>\n<p>The amount of fat manufactured (through DNL) by this practice was 10 times what you\u2019d have seen if the subjects were on a maintenance diet, but it still only amounted to gaining 5 grams a day.<\/p>\n<p>Five days of pigging out resulted in a loss of only 25 grams total fat, or one-eighteenth to a pound. That\u2019s an amount so small that it probably wouldn\u2019t even cause an anorexic to blink.<\/p>\n<p>Although you may gain weight after eating piggy meals, it is very unlikely that it will be excess fat.<\/p>\n<p>You could gain a pound of weight if your daily intake is 500-1000 calories per day. However, this does not apply if you consume 500 to 1000 calories more in one meal. For one thing, there\u2019s a limit to how much food your body can turn into fat (via DNL) in one sitting.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because several things happen when you eat the equivalent of all the foods from column A off a Chinese restaurant menu. Much of it\u2019s stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles, and along with each gram of stored carbohydrate comes about 3 grams of water.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of glycogen stored varies enormously from one individual to another and may be particularly large in lifters, athletes, or muscular people in general, especially if they\u2019ve worked out that day (thus depleting glycogen to a certain degree).<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the effect the food itself has on the body. You can experience thermogenesis when you eat a lot of food. Your body&#8217;s temperature will rise as it tries to process the food (diet-induced heatgenesis). (Protein is most important. \u201cexpensive\u201d To metabolize, while fat is the most expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Some of it\u2019s also burned up from NEAT, or non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is the energy we expend for everything that\u2019s not sleeping, eating, dancing, or doing sports \u2013 things like walking, typing, performing yard work, and even fidgeting.<\/p>\n<p>The rest of the actual weight gain is heavily influenced by the amount of sodium and water in the meal, both of which affect blood volume, and then there\u2019s the actual weight of the food that\u2019s slogging through your digestive tract. That&#8217;s the bulk of it. \u201cgained\u201d weight doesn\u2019t stick around, though.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lightbox-wrapper\"><a class=\"lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/176e7960829d11a3ffa3250f05fffcd646a11473.jpeg\" data-download-href=\"\/uploads\/short-url\/3lhFDr8dU1dTXXjAafOxbEOsFSX.jpeg?dl=1\" title=\"Rower Calories\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/176e7960829d11a3ffa3250f05fffcd646a11473_2_689x388.jpeg\" alt=\"Rower Calories\" data-base62-sha1=\"3lhFDr8dU1dTXXjAafOxbEOsFSX\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/176e7960829d11a3ffa3250f05fffcd646a11473_2_689x388.jpeg, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/176e7960829d11a3ffa3250f05fffcd646a11473_2_1033x582.jpeg 1.5x, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/176e7960829d11a3ffa3250f05fffcd646a11473.jpeg 2x\" data-dominant-color=\"645A51\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>\nMyth 6: Lose 3500 Calories to Burn 3500 Fat<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s an almost universally agreed upon fact that you have to reduce caloric intake <a href=\"https:\/\/www.t-nation.com\/lean-built-eating\/tip-the-3500-calorie-rule-is-dead\/\">3500 calories<\/a> To lose one pound of fat, you must be below the baseline. We know this because, back in 1958, a guy named Max Wishnofsky burned a pound of fat in, yep, a bomb calorimeter and saw that it gave up about 3500 kilocalories\u2019 worth of energy.<\/p>\n<p>And we all swallowed it, hook, line, and pork rind without realizing, again, that we\u2019re not bomb calorimeters and that, moreover, weight loss is governed by a slightly more complex mathematical formula and doesn\u2019t continue in a linear fashion.<\/p>\n<p>It took a mathematician by the name of Kevin Hall, Ph.D., to figure out that over the course of the first year of a diet, people only lose about half of what\u2019s predicted (13). The true number of calories required to lose a pound of fat is closer to 7,700.<\/p>\n<p>Hall&#8217;s words are more powerful than your anger and frustration.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI suppose some people will be bummed out, but we believe it\u2019s better to have an accurate assessment of what you might lose. That way, you don\u2019t feel like a failure if you don\u2019t reach your goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The problem with the 3500-calorie rule is that it did not take into account the fact that the body adapts in many ways to reduce or eliminate the effects of a reduced caloric intake. It doesn\u2019t account for gender, either, or the fact that the metabolic rate drops as body weight decreases.<\/p>\n<p>It also doesn\u2019t take into consideration that counting calories is, for the reasons I laid out above, a woefully inexact science.<\/p>\n<details>\n<summary>\nReferences<\/summary>\n<h3>\nReferences<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Jumpertz R et al. <strong>Food label of accuracy for common snacks<\/strong> Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Jan;21(1):164-9. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23505182\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Southgate DA et al. <strong>Calorie conversion factors. A reassessment experimental of the factors used for the calculation of the energy values of human diets.<\/strong> Br J Nutr. 1970 Jun;24(2):517-35. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/5452702\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Wierdsma NJ et al. <strong>Bomb calorimetry: The gold standard for assessing intestinal absorption capability.<\/strong> J Hum Nutr Diet. 2014 Apr 27 Suppl 2 :57-64 <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23647171\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Cardona-Alvarado MI et al. <strong>Consumption of Almonds and Walnuts Modifies PUFA Profiles and Improves Metabolic Iflammation beyond the Impact of anthropometric Measure.<\/strong> The Open Nutrition Journal. 2018 Oct;12(1):89-98.<\/li>\n<li>Acheson KJ et al. <strong>Glycogen synthesis versus Lipogenesis in man after a 500g carbohydrate meal.<\/strong> Metabolism. 1982 Dec 31(12):1234-40. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/6755166\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Schwarz JM et al. <strong>There are short-term changes in human carbohydrate intake. Inspiring effects on the production of hepatic sugar, de novo and lipogenesis, as well as whole-body fuel selection.<\/strong> J Clin Invest. 1995 Dec;96(6):2735-43. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC185982\/\">PMC<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Dunn R. <strong>Calories: The Hidden Truths<\/strong> Scientific American. August 27, 2012.<\/li>\n<li>Hall KD et al. <strong>Implications for body weight regulation: Energy balance and its constituents<\/strong> Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Apr;95(4):989-994. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3302369\/\">PMC<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Antonio J et al. <strong>A high-protein diet (4.4% g\/kg\/d), can have an impact on the body composition of resistance-trained people.<\/strong> J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014 May 12:11:19 <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24834017\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Leaf A et al. <strong>The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition: The Role of Macronutrient Composition \u2013 A Narrative Review.<\/strong> Int J Exerc Sci. 2017;10(8):1275-1296. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5786199\/\">PMC<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Bray GA et al. <strong>In a metabolic chamber, the effect of protein overfeeding upon energy expenditure was measured.<\/strong> Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;101(3):496-505. <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25733634\/\">PubMed<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Leaf A et al. <strong>Can you binge on food and still be fat?<\/strong> Examine.<\/li>\n<li>Webb D. <strong>Say Goodbye to the 3500-Calorie Rule<\/strong> Today\u2019s Dietitian. 26(11):36.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/details><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>This is a great article! It&#8217;s a great hobby to count calories, but it has its limits.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Many thanks! You are right about counting calories. I am prone to do it all myself, even though my knowledge is better.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>(post removed by the author)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Well said (despite the jocular writing style).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Sir, you have wound me. You have wound me, sir. I was first interested in life sciences as a career after I read a biology textbook with a humorous writing style. Guess it doesn\u2019t work for everybody, though. That\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, I enjoy your jocular style of writing immensely, along with all the incredibly useful content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<aside class=\"quote group-Verified\" data-username=\"TC_Luoma\" data-post=\"1\" data-topic=\"280622\">\n<div class=\"title\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" src=\"https:\/\/sea2.discourse-cdn.com\/tnation\/user_avatar\/forums.t-nation.com\/tc_luoma\/40\/308079_2.png\" class=\"avatar\" \/> TC_Luoma:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The problem with the 3500-calorie rule is that it did not consider the fact that the body adapts in many ways to reduce or even eliminate the effects of a reduced caloric intake.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>So in other words, it\u2019s still 3500 calories, but it\u2019s hard enough to feel like 7000 because the body works against.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>A good article must be informative and entertaining to reach the maximum number of people.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s fun and educational. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<aside class=\"quote no-group\" data-username=\"demonthrall\" data-post=\"8\" data-topic=\"280622\">\n<div class=\"title\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" src=\"https:\/\/sea2.discourse-cdn.com\/tnation\/user_avatar\/forums.t-nation.com\/demonthrall\/40\/28004_2.png\" class=\"avatar\" \/> demonthrall:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So in other words, it\u2019s still 3500 calories, but it\u2019s hard enough to feel like 7000 because the body works against.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Yes, it would. Physics says it\u2019s about 3500, but physiology makes the number closer to 7000.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<aside class=\"quote group-loyal-t-club\" data-username=\"RT_Nomad\" data-post=\"9\" data-topic=\"280622\">\n<div class=\"title\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" src=\"https:\/\/avatars.discourse-cdn.com\/v4\/letter\/r\/a8b319\/40.png\" class=\"avatar\" \/> RT_Nomad:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A good article must be informative and entertaining to reach the maximum number of people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>That\u2019s always been my philosophy. Thanks!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Pharmocology is here! <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/emoji.discourse-cdn.com\/apple\/smiling_imp.png?v=12\" title=\":smiling_imp:\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\":smiling_imp:\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>It&#8217;s a great article. Very well said. Thank you, TC<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<aside class=\"quote group-Verified\" data-username=\"TC_Luoma\" data-post=\"1\" data-topic=\"280622\">\n<div class=\"title\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" src=\"https:\/\/sea2.discourse-cdn.com\/tnation\/user_avatar\/forums.t-nation.com\/tc_luoma\/40\/308079_2.png\" class=\"avatar\" \/> TC_Luoma:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>bomb calorimeter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After 41 years of working at an electric power generator plant, I thought I&#8217;d never hear the end of it. \u201cbomb calorimeter\u201d again. It made me smile to see it in the article.<\/p>\n<p>There was a job I began in 1971. We used <span class=\"hashtag\">#6<\/span> We use fuel oil to power our steam turbines that generate electricity. Up until the oil crisis of 1973-1974 we purchased BTU\u2019s and not barrels of oil. For BTU content analysis, the amount of unloaded oil was measured in barrels. At the end of the year we compared the BTU\u2019s we received with what we were charged. We either received a rebate or paid what we underpaid for the BTU\u2019s we received.<\/p>\n<p>My work area was responsible for running our bomb calorimeter to calculate the BTU\u2019s per barrel. This was a full-time job that I was fortunate to avoid getting lost in the monotonous task. We all tried to avoid getting sucked in to this fear.<\/p>\n<p>Many ships were full of our products. <span class=\"hashtag\">#6<\/span> Multiple samples were taken from fuel oil. The oil guy ran bomb calorimeter test every day.<\/p>\n<p>After 1974 it wasn\u2019t as bad because we only need to test BTU\u2019s per barrel to run efficiency tests. These were generally once a year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Ha! Ha! It makes sense though.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Excellent article, TC. I have a question. \u201cabsorbtion percentages\u201d The Dutch study that I have quoted is purportedly what is known as the \u201cthermic effect of food\u201d Or something completely different? What I\u2019ve commonly read shows a greater disparity between fats (0-3%), carbs (5-10%) and protein (20-30%).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Calories used be a problem for me. Then I let it go. Recently, my WTFs have come back. We now have a unit for measuring. The measure refers to the amount of energy needed to heat 1 kilogram of water 1 degrees Celsius.<br \/>These are just a few.<br \/>Labels can be misleading. Intake happens, of an amount that can\u2019t be reliably measured, and what you crap out isn\u2019t put back i the bomb calorimeter to measure the difference, the difference between what unreliably went in and what came out\u2026AND we don\u2019t power our bodies as a steam engine with the energy captured by burning the fuel and turning it to into steam and whatever, but instead a series of chemical reactions.<br \/>So all the devices that say you\u2019re in precisely a 500 Calorie deficit, all the plans, all the programs\u2026they\u2019re guessing?<br \/>Is fasting bad? Ghrelin and Leptin and cortisol and insulin\u2026OH MY<br \/>What can we be certain of?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>I suspect is has to do with enzymes, the pH of surrounding fluids, the chemical nature of the macro, and probably a few other things I haven\u2019t thought of (thanks!).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>While I was educated in mathematics, I worked in boiler controls which used feedback loops to control.<\/p>\n<p>I have never lost fat by counting calories, but I do use feedback systems. When asked how I diet for contests, my answer is simple: \u201cI call it an idiot\u2019s diet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I totally changed my diet. I eat the same amount of macros as before, and eat similar food. I will cut down on starchy carbs if I want to lose weight. \u201cfeedback\u201d. If I didn\u2019t lose any I cut out a little more. If I lose strength, I add it back.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>TC, if it\u2019s any consolation, I\u2019ve followed your work (and in turn the work of Poliquin, Staley, Duchaine, Thibaudeau and numerous others) since 1996, <em>In large part, this is because<\/em> You are a comedian.<\/p>\n<p>I studied biology at Washington University in St. Louis, and all those texts were as dry as Hillary Clinton\u2019s\u2026 well\u2026 you know.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biggest Untruths Debunk There probably isn\u2019t a topic in nutrition that\u2019s more tangled up in misinformation than calories, so let\u2019s blow up some of those myths. Damn You, Wilburn! Sometimes I wish Wilburn Olin Atwater hadn\u2019t become a pioneer in the field of nutrition. I\u2019d have been happier if he\u2019d instead become a chimney &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1795653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[5458,13365,13364,3819],"class_list":["post-1795650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-bongino","tag-calories","tag-myths","tag-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1795650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1795653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1795650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1795650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1795650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}