The idea that calories in calories out has anything to do with weight gain or weight loss is utter bullshit. Sure that’s straight foward language for a health and fitness blog. But to describe it otherwise would be inaccurate and wouldn’t do it justice. You know what I mean you’ve suffered greatly with this outdated and unworkable theory.
It never has worked and never will.
How do I know? Because I’m an expert on the subject. What makes me the expert? Well…
Have you ever seen a guy that was skin and bone eat a meal? They eat like a bird right? WRONG. They eat like a pig. Again how do I know? What makes me an expert? Well because…
I WAS THAT GUY. I kept my high school weight (extremely thin) (it was exactly 176 pounds) (and I’m a giant over 6 feet tall) (yes we’re talking skinny) for over 20 years after high school without putting on a single ounce and…
I ATE LIKE A PIG ALL DAY LONG EVER DAY OF THE WEEK during those 20 plus years.
P.S. This is what makes me an expert on the subject but this is only half the story for the other half see the next blog post.
P.P.S. Here’s a guy that agrees with me and in fact I saw him at # 1 on my Google search and he explains this stuff pretty good. Click this link and see that “Low Calorie Diets DON’T Work.”
i always make sure that i am on a Low Calorie diet. i avoid foods with high carbohydrate load because it would just cause more fats on the body. a low calorie diet is also associated with longer life span.
Utter Garbage! Your claims as “being an expert” are incredibly laughable. Simply because you ate a large amount of calories and didn’t gain weight doesn’t mean anything in the realm of science.
Let’s be intelligent about this - Mr. Expert?
IF calories have nothing to do with weight gain, then calories have nothing to do with weight loss. If you truly believe the first, then you must believe the latter. To “prove” your argument, you must severely cut your caloric intake to even remotely claim your hypothesis as workable.
Cut your current daily calorie intake in half - and resume life as normal. Keep doing this for one month.
1. IF you lose weight - your argument is now false because the results show that your normal level of calories consumed had previously sustained your weight. When calories were cut – you lost weight, which means that caloric intake HAS EVERYTHING to do with weight loss AND weight gain.
2. IF you remain the same weight as before - your argument stands further investigation.
3. IF you gain weight - then all we know about science has been thrown out the window and your “expertise” has gained recognition.
Good luck!
My hypothesis:
If you truly do this experiment correctly then my prediction is that you will lose weight. If you lose weight by cutting your calorie intake in half and remain as active or inactive as was normal before the experiment began - then the experiment has shown that calories DO matter in regards to body mass and your expertise was simply a self-serving bias within your own mind.
Chances are you failed to keep track of your daily consumption when you previously “ate like a pig.” By not keeping a log - you essentially tricked yourself into believing that you were eating far more calories than your body was used to when in fact - you were just gorging in random spurts leading to an average daily consumption. This average of eating and then “eating like a pig” became your normal routine and your calorie intake sustained a typical weight for you.
Mr. know it all Nate,
Thanks for your feedback as aggressive as it is. Obviously diet is a highly charged subject for you as it is for many. Besides I think controversy is actually an attention getter.
Yea if you reduce your calorie intake to 50% for a month you will probably lose weight according to your bathroom scale (and believe it or not you may not) (but that’s another story and a long one). But…
First of all let me give you a stable datum about hunger which most people won’t argue with (but I’m sure you will be the exception). HUNGER ALWAYS WINS. Can you reduce your caloric intake for an entire month by 50%? Wow that’s REAL tough. Most people might make it through a day (might) but then again they might not, “hey I’m not in the mood to be hungry I’ll start this tomorrow,” is usually how it goes. Hunger always wins. But let’s say someone actually is strong willed enough to do it for an entire month. Have you ever heard of yo-yoing. This is “forcing the weight loss” and it can be done on a “temporary basis” only. And after the “temporary basis” is over (the month in this case)… watch out, watch out cause it’s coming back in spades. The body is saying the famine is over so I’m gonna store every single pound I can get my hands on to prepare for the next famine. Oh and another thing which is rather curious is if you were able to cut your calories in half PERMANENTLY for ever and ever guess what? Oddly enough the weight will STILLLLLLLLLLL come back every single ounce “you thought you lost.” In fact you will even put on even more weight while still eating half the calories. Your hunger is not being satisfied so the body thinks “there must be a famine cause this guy isn’t eating I better start storing up more fat.” I know this defies logic (gaining weight while eating half the calories) but this is what happens in real life. And yea I’ve done lot’s of experimenting with this. You seem to think this defies science. Well wake up a lot of things defy science. Have you heard that according to science a bumble bee isn’t supposed to be able to fly? This is fairly common knowledge.
Nate here’s what Brigett says.
brigette says:
June 22, 2009 at 4:20 pm
finally someone smart enough to ask this question. i follow you, because i’ve noticed that calories are actually not the solution. i’m a girl, 17 years old. 5 ft 4 and 106 lbs. to tell you the truth i actually used to be a bit overweight because i was on anti-depressants and they made me gain weight. after i stopped taking meds, i lost about 15 lbs without exercise, but then i started working out and lost about 20 more. i’ve been noticing how freaking hungry i get and i swear i can eat atleast 2,000 calories or 500 more in a day and i don’t gain anything. i once did an experience on myself for 5 days of eating 3,000 calories. to my surprise i didn’t gain weight and actually lost 1 lbs instead. i was freaking out. i have an overweight sister that actually eats less and she gains weight. what is going on? i’m sort of glad i can’t gain weight, but at the same time not being able to has made me curious. i’m also a vegan, but i don’t think that has much to do with it because there are some heavy vegans out there. i’m not going to push myself to eat so much anymore because i don’t want to get sick or something, but i’m usually so hungry. i wonder why that is……
Mr. Expert
First, I am not a “know-it-all” nor am I an expert. I do not claim either one like you have - Mr. Expert.
—–i.e “How do I know? Because I’m an expert on the subject. What makes me the expert? Well…” says expert
i.e “P.S. This is what makes me an expert on the subject but this is only half the story for the other half see the next blog post.” says expert—–
Secondly, I do understand how the body tries to save fat for storage but this really is besides the whole point to your original claim. You stated that calories have nothing to do with weight gain. THIS is what my original response was about.
If calories have NOTHING to do with weight gain then calories must not HAVE anything to do with weight loss. This is simple logic according to your original claim.
If being an expert means being skinny - then I guess I am an expert as well. I have been thin my whole life and have weighed in at an average of 130 lbs for quite sometime. I guess this means I am an expert.
If you stop eating - you will lose weight.
If you cut calories - you will lose weight.
If you resume normal activity with less energy - you will lose weight.
If you consume less energy (calories) - you will lose weight.
Your claim that calories have NOTHING to do with weight loss or weight gain is incredibly naive. YES - your body can use muscle to burn while storing fat but in the end the amount of calories IN must be greater than the amount OUT in order to gain weight. Even when your body goes into survival mode - the calories burned MUST come from somewhere. Does your body produce energy? NO - it consumes energy. Regardless of which one burns first (muscle or fat), calories are being used.
Calories DO matter. Calories are energy for your body. If you don’t have enough energy for your body - your body must come up with energy. When this happens your body will burn calories. If you don’t have enough calories - you body will burn reserve energy.
You can not create matter nor destroy it - a scientific law. And yes - everyone’s body is unique as far as absorption, metabolism, fat storage…but all of these things fall into CALORIE CONSUMPTION.
Mr. know it all Nate,
Most of what you say has already been addressed. Did you read what Brigette (above) says. As an experiment she INCREASED her caloric intake and lost a pound. There’s a million examples of this kind of thing, you wanna talk science, let’s talk science.
There are 3 main body types “according to science,”
the ectomorph who is lean and “has difficulty putting on weight,”
the mesomorph - the muscular athletic body type and you have
the endomorph - a lot of mass in the abdominal area, wt loss is difficult
These 3 body types have been known since the beginning of Man. Ayur Veda the oldest healing system calls then vata, pita and kapha. The characteristics match up perfectly with the ecto, meso, and endo (it’s one of the things modern science did perfect).
What interesting about the kapha is they have very little hunger and they eat VERY LITTLE yet will get as big as a house. I had some relatives, she was a kapha and her husband was a vata. They ate together yet he ate WAY more food then she did. Guess which one was fat? She was as big as a house and he (the huge eater) (a heavy drinker as well) was a tooth pick. She died big as a house and he was a tooth pick to the day he died.
I’m not going to address “matter is neither created nor destroyed” (yes it is one of the hard core principles of physics) except to say it has been proven that mass and energy can and are created.
To think that “calories in calories out determines weight” is just too naive just look around. Observe. Observe the obvious without any bias.