Are All Calories Created Equal?

Are All Calories Created Equal?

NO!

Counting Calories, as I mentioned in my previous blog is very important when you are trying to get healthy. Do you have to count calories for the rest of your life? No. Eventually you will begin to remember what your servings are and how the calories add up, but counting calories is a good habit to get into as a way to keep yourself in check. Simply counting those calories in your diet, though, will not always help you find long tern results -because- not all calories are created equal. What I mean is, 200 calories of your favorite candy bar doesn't do the same for you as 200 calories of lean meat or a heaping plate of veggies.

If you are familiar with my Expedition Well-Being website, then you might have discovered that I am a member of the ImgurFIT facebook group. For those of you who do not know, this group spawned from an image sharing community imgur.com. Earlier this year, a post called "What 200 calories looks like in various foods" showed up in the "most viral" image gallery. Essentially, this user compiled photos of more than 30 foods to compare portions of those foods that equal 200 calories- a typical snack for most people. Here some examples of my favorite foods from that list:

 

 

 

Notice the dramatically different portion sizes of the healthy foods compared to the junky ones? But, aside from the fact that you can get fuller just from portion size from 200 calories of black beans or broccoli than 200 calories of Werther's or Doughnuts, the nutrient content between the healthy and junky foods is dramatically different. Most notably, broccoli and beans are filled with a lot of fiber which slows the rate of sugar absorption into the blood stream, as well as absorbs water stretching your stomach to signal your brain that you are full. Additionally, fiber takes a lot longer than sugar to move out of the stomach, so you feel full longer.

But, But, isn't it true that as long as calories in is less than what you need you can lose weight?

Not necessarily!

Different foods can affect how the body uses and burns those calories. This is because of the way the body reacts particularly to sugars (carbohydrates). Researchers have developed the Glycemic Index to explain this effect - which results from sugar and carbohydrate rich foods. Foods with high GI numbers (greater than 70) have more sugars (glucose) that rapidly break down and enter the blood faster and last in the blood longer than foods with low GI numbers (55 or less). Observe the graph below from the Glycemic Index Foundation. Notice that in this example, a white potato reacts in the blood almost the same as straight glucose! If you have ever had a glucose blood sugar test, you know how gross you feel with all of that raw sugar rushing through your veins! Yuck! Also, notice how the blood glucose takes a dive off the charts after 90 minutes with both the potato and straight glucose. This is known as a sugar crash, felt by many people between meals, and especially in the afternoon.

So let's put this notion into action. On a typical day, you might get up and have a piece of white or wheat toast and head off to McDonald's to pick up an iced mocha latte. You think you're doing "ok" on calories, only about 300 for your breakfast. But by 10:00 am you're starving and have a slight headache. Now you're craving a pick me up. Maybe you were smart about it and have some nuts on hand, or maybe you have to run to the vending machine for a 200 calorie bag of chips. Now, let's look at the chart above. You really are alright on calories, but the bread and sugary coffee are no better than the potato. But, had you chosen whole grain bread and an egg, you would have never experienced the sugar crash.

According to researchers (you can do a google scholar search and find literally hundreds of clinical studies on this), those high GI foods that cause roller coaster blood sugar trends can cause type II diabetes, release of stress hormones (which cause you to retain weight), and release of a slew of other hormones that all work against the efforts to lose weight and get healthy.

As a personal example, my boyfriend and I, for 2 months in 2012 each consumed reduced calorie diets of 500 calorie deficits and increased activity by walking, biking, lifting weights, etc. Without thought as to what we ate, we just made sure to eat no more than our set calories. In that time, we each lost no more than 6 pounds, even though the numbers added up to what should have been an almost a 10 pound loss. On top of not seeing results, both of us were always hungry, tired and crabby. We gave up on our efforts because the emotional toll was too great to push through.

Conversely, this year, we started a reduced GI diet, where the carbs we eat come from fruits, whole grains, and other low GI foods. In two months time, our calorie deficit should have added up to be 10 pounds each, just as before, yet both of us lost more than 20 pounds! Similar results have been found in numerous research studies over recent years.

So, the take home message here is that a calorie is not just a calorie. Different foods do in fact do different things to our bodies. Besides, remember the photos above and in the imgur link? Why eat 200 calories of a hand full of Doritos when you can eat 2 whole heads of broccoli instead? Eat smarter and you'll never feel hungry and have better results. :D

Calculating Calories

 Calculating your calorie needs:

I think this should be helpful for those of you struggling to do or understand the nutrition calculations. I provided an example calculation of my Carb/Fat/Protein ratio based off of my BMR and the percentages that work best for me. The rest is basic knowledge you can get from intro to nutrition.

Remember, everyone's body works a little differently. For example, I am not one of those people who tolerates carbohydrates well. As a general rule of thumb, 45-65% of the diet should be from carbs, but I personally go with 40%. Over years of experimenting, 40/30/30 works great for me. Don't be afraid to test what is best for you, but remember, give each test at least 2 weeks before changing it up.

I recommend using something like (MFP) www.myfitnesspal.com (they also have an app) until you find what is best for you and are comfortable with the diet change. To change your intake goals on MFP, make a profile and fill in everything honestly. Under "my home" select "goal" then "change goals" and select "custom." Then you can put in the percentages that you want, and it will calculate everything for you!

I wanted to make clear that the safe weekly weight loss range from most acceptable sources is 1-4 pounds per week. Notice, I put 1-2 pounds per week in DIET here. You should never aim to lose more than 2 pounds a week from diet alone. Therefore, you should not cut more than 1,000 calories from your BMR + Activity in order to lose the weight, and you should get a minimum of 1200 cals a day no matter what.

To create a larger calorie deficit, turn to exercise, but remember, your total deficit should not exceed 2,000 calories a day. I personally aim for a 750 cal deficit from diet and 750 from exercise for about 3 pounds loss per week. This way, I am losing at a good pace, but I do not feel totally drained.

Also, make sure you adjust this each time you have lost 5-10 pounds or when your regular activity changes. When you know you are regularly burning 750 calories a day in activity because you work out 2 times a day and you have a job that keeps you running around (like mine, as a nurse aid does) or working hard (like a construction worker), then you need to adjust your activity % that you add to your BMR to make sure you are eating enough food to keep you from crashing. www.myfitnesspal.com will do all of that for you! Just make sure you are making your changes every few weeks as needed by weighing in and changing your activities as needed.

Introduction

Introduction

Hello all,

For much of my life, I have tried off and on to keep a journal. But, I LOVE to write, and I try to always put my best into what I write. So for me, a journal takes a lot of effort. All I can think is, "What is the point of spending time writing something that no one will ever read?" Heck, what if I could actually write something that helped someone? If just one person can learn from me, then the effort would be worth it!

A little about me

I am in my last year of my Master's in Biology as well as my teaching certification. You might have noticed from the paragraph above that I love to help people learn - mostly because I love to talk, communicate, and share my experiences and view of the world, but also because I hope to help people by giving them the tools to succeed in life by learning how to learn and from learning some of what I know. That being said, I am no expert of everything. I am one of those people who is a jack of [a lot] of trades, and master of few. Learning comes natural and easy for me, and I LOVE expanding my knowledge and learning new things.Therefore, sometimes I find it difficult to learn everything about one topic before another catches my interest. As an example, I have changed my major many times in my 7 years of college. I went to college to be a music teacher, but fell in love with biology. I decided I wanted to be a doctor, but fell in love with animals, then biochemistry (but calc 2 was too hard), then insects, then nutrition, then religion and philosophy, then teaching. From the teaching program, I discovered geology, and I wish I had time to learn more. The last election fueled my interest for politics and law. Oh the sadness of so many great subjects and only one life time. 

Through grad school, I allows stress and the heavy work and course load to get the best of me. Though my weight at the start of grad school in the fall of 2010 was 172, by March 2013 the feedback on the scale made me realize I had to make a change in my life. Before Spring Break 2013, the scale read 212 pounds, and I'm just 5'6". YUCK! I knew I needed a change in my life.

Additionally, my boyfriend of about a year and a half saw his weight reach higher than ever before. Both of us qualified as obese - not over weight - OBESE! I was shocked, mortified, depressed, disgusted, disappointed... the list of bad emotions goes on and on. We started cutting portions and eating out less, and I lost 7 pounds in a few weeks. 

By April first, I weight in at 204.6 with a waist of 45.5 in (yee-gads!), and I started the South Beach Diet!!

Phase one was great for getting my cravings and blood sugar under control. I lost almost 7 pounds and 2.5 inches. 

April and May were difficult months. The basement flooded (thanks to April... showers? more like continental hurricanes!), and finals were very busy! Though my weight loss slowed and my diet was not as clean, I still managed to weigh in today at 191 with a waist of 40inches!

I have decided that I need some accountability and an outlet to express myself and document my progress. That's when I came up with the concept for Expedition Well-being. In addition to this blog, I have a website, Expedition Well-being. Between the two, I hope to develop a resource not only for myself, but for others as well. I hope to inspire others, to keep myself motivated, and learn from others as well! Please feel free to leave comments on my blogs and the web pages so that we can have a community of people able to learn from one another through shared experiences and a diversity of knowledge!

WE CAN DO THIS!!

Stephanie