Why Calorie Counting Is Flawed

Calorie counting is beautiful thing, don't get me wrong. A lot of people misunderstand the reason why we do it, and how to do it both accurately, and appropriately given the situation.

A calorie is a calorie is true in regards to an energy balance equation that leaves out physiological factors by the body. When you ingest a carbohydrate, protein or fat, your body doesn't just say, "Oh gosh, 120 calories of energy, we can use it for 120 calories of activity." Oh no my friends, your body is a chemical processing plant that reacts differently when you put different substances in it.

What am I trying to say? The effects of consuming a meal entirely of carbohydrates versus a meal of entirely protein will affect your body differently. Anyone care to disagree with that thought process? Good.

Now lets say you're in a negative Muscle Protein Synthesis balance throughout the day (MPS for short). This means that you have not ingested enough amino acids to stimulate either growth, or maintenance of your skeletal muscle tissue, AKA eaten enough protein. This would most likely mean that your muscle tissue would atrophy and your body would cannibalize itself in order to free up some amino acids. This process, would most likely mean you're breaking yourself down in a negative fashion to provide your body with calories.

Let's also say you've eaten your calorie quota for the day, even in a deficit, in one sitting. All of your calories are coming from fat and sugar. Given the fact your meal is high in sugar, this will likely spike your blood sugar levels very high. An appropriate response by the body would be to elevate levels of insulin and cause you to store a lot of the food you just ingested as body fat...not to mention that fat you just ate with your meal is VERY likely to be stored as body fat (in the presence of a high amount of insulin in your body, dietary body fat will store very easily as adipose tissue).

So, you've burned 2000kcal today, eaten 1500kcal, well within a deficit...but you're breaking down muscle tissue because of your lack of protein intake, and you've also spiked your insulin very high during your one meal, which was also consumed with high amounts of dietary fat, resulting in your under eating, but still gaining fat.

This is why calorie counting is flawed. It is a great system if used the right way, but if you don't understand physiology of how a carb, protein or fat does what to what, you may be spinning your wheels.

Remember, it's always important to educate yourself about things you don't know.

"It's your right to be ripped."

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