What is a calorie

A calorie is a unit of energy. In concrete terms, a calorie is the amount of energy needed for one gram of water by 1 ℃ to warm.

Technically any "calorie" in food, called the big "C", equal to 1,000 small "c" calories, but it is not there. The question we must ask is: why a calorie is defined as the amount of energy needed to heat water?

It all has to do with how calories are measured in food. The technique that is used to form said calories in, for example, a banana to be measured, is bomcalorimetrie.

Literally: you take the banana, put him in a room surrounded by water and blows it up.

During combustion releases energy into the surrounding water, and the number ℃ the surrounding water heated tells us how many calories there are in the banana.

But you can use this value to human biology? Well not really.

Our body draws no energy like bomcalorimeters. Once the nutrients in our foods find their way into our cells, energy is a more sophisticated way than simple combustion withdrawn.

Food is methodically degraded by a group of enzymes in order to generate cellular building blocks, and to release electrons, which can then be systematically used for energy by mitochondria.

Moreover, there is every cell in your body at least one bacterial cell in the microbial ecosystem of your intestines that plays a role in extracting energy from the food you eat.

 

Why we calories in foods not accurately calculate

Because we all have different microbiomen "we get all in a different way energy from food. As an extreme example, if you were a gorilla with the microbiome of a gorilla, you could get 60% of your calories from fiber (*)!

Okay, we are not gorillas, but the concept is the same. We each have unique microbiomen and each release energy in a different way from food (2).

Let's play devil's advocate and assume that we can measure perfectly calories by blowing on bananas and to apply calorific values ​​on human nutrition.

Would we be able to count calories? Still no.

In the United States from the Food and Drug Administration's Guidance for Industry least a margin of error of 20% on food labels.

Even as food companies are actually complying with this law, which many do not, that would amount to an error of 400 calories on a 2,000 calorie diet.

So let's summarize. You can not accurately count the calories eaten, because:

you're not bomcalorimeter,
You have a unique microbiome, and
nutrition labels are not accurate.

 

Why do not accurately calculate the caloric expenditure

That's only half the equation. Proponents of a strict calorie count thinking that calories in - calories out equals weight gain.

We talked about calories, which can not be measured accurately, but what about that burned calories?

Here it gets complicated.

You could write an encyclopedia on the subject why measuring calories burned in people over a longer period so complicated, but I'll just mention a few highlights.

To begin exercise only a fraction of the total number of calories for most people.

Much more energy is spent on the biological processes of temperature regulation, the work of your brains and digestion.

Moreover burns "thermogenesis without effort," or NEAT, for most people even more calories per day than during exercise.

Neat refers to those physical movements that are separate from exercise, such as a good attitude or to bounce your leg or gesturing your hands.

Neat activities are much more in terms of calories than the 30-60 minutes that someone spends in the gym and are extremely variable from person to person.

In a study published in the prestigious journal Science, 16 people with a healthy weight 1,000 calories per day were more than their estimated need for 8 weeks.

Quote from the paper: "Changes in Neat were responsible for the tenfold differences in fat storage that occurred and immediately predicted the resistance to fat growth in over food."

Now, a question: Do you know people who are restless or often bounce with their leg?

Are they lean?

The most important thing is that the human hormonal system determines how energy is distributed and used. This is extremely important in the long term.

Determine your hormones if your energy consumes or stores. And if you save it, you determine hormones how to do that, as a fat or lean muscle.

Because fat and muscle mass influence hormones, a cycle is created.

Your hormones determine how your fuel is divided.

The distribution of fuel affects your hormones and your metabolism, and so on.

It becomes a dance between insulin, testosterone, estrogen, ghreline, thyroid, muscles and fat, so that the counting of calories in the long term becomes a meaningless effort.

So let's summarize it. You cannot accurately count the burnt calories because:

Exercise contributes to a small part of the burned calories, compared to other functions.

Your body adapts to adjust the burnt calories.
Determine your hormones if your energy consumes or stores, and whether you save it, how you do that.