Weight Loss and Healthy Living

It's the simple equation almost every diet or fitness program is based on. If it were so simple, then why are there so many diets? Why do so many so-called 'experts' in the field argue over the right way to lose fat and live healthy?


One reason that calories are the source of so many debates is because very few people understand them. Let's get the facts straight so that you can make the right choices for your own healthy lifestyle.

First, make sure what you are calling a calorie really is a calorie. In the United States, for example, what is labeled as a 'calorie' is really a 'kilocalorie.' A kilocalorie is, by definition, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius at 1 atmosphere of pressure. A kilocalorie is simply a measure of the amount of energy in food, and becomes a good approximation for how much energy the body can use or release when that food is ingested.

A device called a bomb calorimeter is used to measure calories. The chemical or food is placed in a container in water and the heat from a chemical reaction is measured. This calculation shows the energy contained in foods but does not paint the true picture of what happens when the food is digested by a human. Digestion itself requires energy, and some foods are tougher for the body to digest than others.

The body must expend many more calories digesting protein than it does digesting fats. This leads to what is known as the 'thermal effect' of foods. While a gram of protein may generate 4 kilocalories in the laboratory, it actually is less calories to the body due to the extra work required to turn protein into energy. This is why certain foods such as proteins and healthy fats can actually aid in weight loss because they will raise your metabolism.

Even more confusing is the fact that some calories really don't count. Certain fibers, for example, are insoluble - the body cannot break them down into energy. They pass through the body. While these foods don't add any calories to your intake, they still generate calories in the lab and often are marked as having those calories on the food label.

The food label itself presents a problem. When a manufacturer labels their food, they do not have to conduct an experiment to measure the actual energy in the meal. Instead, they can approximate the calories using the 'average' values of 4 calories per gram of protein or carbohydrate and 9 calories per gram of fat (contrary to popular belief, these are not exact figures and some proteins, fats, and carbohydrates actually generate more or less calories than these approximations).

Not all labels are guaranteed to be correct. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported in 1996 that 92% of food labels were correct. That means 1 out of 10 foods were not correct. 'Correct' means that the nutrients you want like vitamins and minerals must be at least 80% of the label claim, while nutrients you don't want like fats cannot exceed the label by more than 120%. The result? Your 100-calorie food might really be 120 calories and have only 4/5ths of the nutrients you thought it did.

Confusing? I agree. This is why I always advise clients to view calories as a guideline, not a fact of life. It's not uncommon for someone dieting to say, 'Hey, I ate 1600 calories.' After looking at all of the possibilities for error - including what I call 'hunger creep' which means a hungry dieter will claim less food than they actually measured - it's really only proper to say 'I ate around 1600 calories.'

So does that mean calories are worthless? Not at all. The good news is that you don't have to count every calorie to live a healthy lifestyle. Instead, do something different: focus on consistency. Instead of eating based on how hungry you are, pick a standard portion size and stick with it. Then, if you need to make adjustments, you can go for bigger or smaller portions and leave the complicated computations to someone else.

Replication or redistribution in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Communications. Reprinted courtesy of AME Info.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License, unless otherwise noted at the footer of the article. Article boilerplates, terms, conditions, and licenses supercede this license when present. Any republication of any form must attribute Jeremy Likness as the author and copyright holder. Any republication on the web must be accompanied by a live, direct, clickable, and visible link to www.LoseFatNotFaith.com. Redirects whereby the actual link does not point directly to the losefatnotfaith.com domain are expressly prohibited with the exception of affiliate links generated through the Lose Fat, Not Faith Affiliate Program; improper links will result in termination of rights to republish this content.

Random Picture

Vacuum and arms
Click the link above for more...