Lets talk fasting

A calorie is not a calorie. There are many factors that add errors to our calorie "calculations" that make many calories not equivalent.

Calories on food labels are measured in bomb calorimeters - a sealed container that allows the measurement of heat released when something is burned. The human body does not extract energy by combusting things. Some corrections are applied to make the numbers fit better. But even still, that measurement of a calories is only an approximation of the processes in the body. Since it's an approximation, there will be errors. Every gram of protein is not exactly 4Cal, especially since certain amino acids (ketogenic amino acids) can't even be converted into glucose. Every gram of carb is not exactly 4Cal. Every gram of fat is not exactly 9Cal.

There are more errors in nutrition labels too. The above paragraph assumes that the food producer that wrote the nutrition label actually measured the calories of said food. They probably didn't. It's more likely that they tabulated the macros of the ingredients and did simple math. And the producer of the ingredients probably did the same thing. And the producer of those ingredients, etc. All those approximation errors can stack up.

You also see more errors when thinking about digestion. Every person will digest foods differently, leading to more or less calories actually making it into your bloodstream. A simple but extreme example is lactose intolerance. Lactose is a sugar that is broken down into glucose by an enzyme. If you don't have enough of that enzyme, those calories are not absorbed. So I get less calories from that dulce de leche cake than lactose tolerant person. The same general thinking applies to most food. Food digestion is affected by the bacteria in your gut. Every person has different gut bacteria, leading to diff levels of calorie absorption from diff foods. Side note - that bacteria also produces most of your serotonin, a feel-good brain chemical that dramatically influences your mood.

How we cook foods also impacts digestion/absorption of foods. Some raw foods are dramatically less calorie available. Sometimes the fat in your meat renders out, sometimes it stays in there. Sometimes you extract a lot of water and end up eating more food before feeling full. Etc etc. That's more error in your calorie counting.

On the other side of calories - burning them - how do you actually know that jogging for 20min actually burned 200Cal? Your Garmin watch is guessing at many factors to "calculate" that 200Cal. An Olympic runner and a very out of shape person will use a far different number of calories for the same activity. The device could measure a HR device, you told it about any weight difference, and it'll measure a time difference. But it has no idea about any differences in muscle efficiency or metabolic efficiencies, any discrepancies in calorie expenditure after the run, or many other confounding factors. So those numbers are guesses.

I've probably missed or glossed over 20 other issues that make calories not equivalent, but you get the point. At the end of the day, calories are only equivalent for yourself and only when you can average out these errors over a long duration with stable habits. Comparing to another person or to what some internet person says "always works" is a bad idea. So don't do it. Focus on the results. Change your habits based on your results, not based on other's or what you think should be happening. If you changed your diet and saw no results for a month, change your diet a little bit more.

 

Reading that post made me gain 6 pounds…

 

Gorilla George IS BACK!!

 

trying to remember he’s not the welder dude that left space X to go to the PNW is he? Is he the one that was a podcast guy or something? All gung ho MotoAmerica at first?

 

Nope.

The oil well dude that loves all the animals in the neighborhood

 

I know who Chris/George Chaotic is… can’t remember the Stang dude…

 

And never met a gun he wouldn't buy.

 

i dont get hung up on calorie counting. i keep it pretty simple/ i measure out my food every meal. i take in a certain amount of carbs each meal...if i am trying to get leaner - i either lower said carbs or increase cardio or booth, then reevaluate by the scale and the mirror. protein stays the same every meal (5-6 meals a day 7-8oz chicken for 4 of them). people ask how many calories i eat - i have no idea - been awhile since i worked it out. i might also carb cycle as well to drop more BF. Meal prep is pretty key in weight loss. i cook a pile of chicken in the slow cooker at once and rice in the rice cooker and i am set for a day or 2. if the wife is on prep she eats mostly tilapia - she will go zero carb most of the week.

 

I do the exact same thing lol. But since we have been doing it so long, I know exactly how much food I need to eat to lose or gain. I also Carb cycle and eat carbs as needed depending on the workout. I was more so referring to people who are brand new getting started with a weight loss goal.

 

i get it. i rarely eat pizza. its not conducive to my goals lol. nor anyone's unless your goal is to get fat lol. but damn its good, thats why getting fat is so easy! lol. they need to cut all that out, and thats not easy.

 

Man, do you know what tilapia are used for? She may not want to eat that fish anymore.

https://www.lifehack.org/314139/3-alarming-reasons-you-should-stop-eating-tilapia-immediately#:~:text=Since they are raised in,to people's health when ingested.

Also, there was an episode on Dirty Jobs about a striped bass fish farm whereas they used Tilapia to eat the fish shit out of the tanks to keep the water 'cleaner' for the stripers.

 

Fair point.

 

That's farm raised. You can get natural, caught tilapia too. Mike Rowe did a show about that too. Followed a family in Fla. [ I think ] that fishes them everyday and they're processed immediately.
That article is about Chinese raised fish. All you gotta know about that is China...

 

And Barry O graduated from Harvard.

 

I listened to a chef/restaurant owner in NY.He was telling a story about a snow storm,and losing power to a Lobster tank.One lobster killed,and ate all the other Lobsters.He then went into talking about Tilapia,and it made me wanna puke!! He swears its the nastiest fish you can buy.He said they are fed baby diapers,and toe nail clippings! I never forgot that interview,and refuse to eat any Tilapia

 

Not just China...happens in the states too as a part of treating sewage. Then they are sent to market for human consumption.

I will never eat tilapia again.

 

+1 I was eating Tilapia 2-3 times a week, then i saw that episode on Dirty Jobs and some more research and uhm yea, i was done with it.

 

It's american raised tilapia too. That dirty job episode i was referencing was in new mexico i believe....They would harvest the shit eating tilapia out of the striped bass tanks. Pretty sure New Mejico is in the U.S.

There are 137 tilapia farms in the U.S.

"Over 135 countries, including the United States, produce farm-raised tilapia in indoor recirculating tanks, ponds, freshwater net pens, and raceways."

 

as a former lobster fisherman - i can tell you they dont eat the best of things either lol. but people dont mind inhaling them! and paying a lot for it! and yes shit is on the list of things they would eat - pulled one out of a trap one day that absolutely REEKED of shit....car oil etc could also be used as bait (but isnt) - along with maggot filled flatfish (it is). pretty sure pigs and hogs eat some pretty wretched stuff (including humans if you let them), ham and bacon is still eaten by people. point is...i am sure if you look deep enough on most things you eat - you might not want to lol.