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A Calorie is not a Calorie
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: November 26, 2008
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There are many diet myths out there and I want to dispel a few of them. First, that a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie. That is your body reacts differently to carbohydrate, fat and protein calories. To review grade school science, a calorie is the amount of heat (energy) needed to increase the temperature of one kg of water by 1°C. This is important; read on!
The second myth is that a low fat or no fat diet is good for us. It is not. We have learned as a society (unfortunately the hard way) that this philosophy leads to more people who are overweight and as we see as we look around, our society is doing just that. The problem with low or no fat is that most foods that are no fat are high in carbohydrate or foods that have no fat in them after recipe changes have increased carbohydrate. Too many carbohydrates are bad.
Therefore, we should primarily focus on 2 of our most important macronutrients: protein and carbohydrate. My recommendation is to aim for higher protein and lower carbs but with some caveats.
Protein is our primary metabolic fuel source. It is what drives our metabolism. Think of each of our cells as a small fireplace. The heat coming out of the fireplace is our metabolism (remember that a calorie is a measure of heat) and that we take “logs” of protein and throw them into our fireplaces. The fire (our metabolism) burns hot for the next 3 hours or so then starts to slow down. Therefore to keep our metabolism hot we need to eat protein again to “stoke our fire”. Eating protein about every 3 hours keeps our metabolism at its maximum. At night when we stop eating and sleep, our body cools off. This is normal and helps us to sleep. If we skip breakfast the next morning, our metabolism (internal fireplace) does not heat up adequately as we are still burning our fuel from yesterday. When we do eat, it takes a longer time to get the flame going as opposed to eating every 3 hrs. Think if you were to place a pile of wood on top of a birthday candle flame, it will burn but take a long time to get going. This extra energy gets stored therefore as fat until it is needed.
Carbohydrate is used as our body’s short term energy storage. For short term exercise (30 minutes or less) our bodies burn carbohydrate in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is stored mainly in our muscles. It makes sense to have the immediate energy where we need it most (already in the muscles).
When we eat carbohydrate, we replenish our used glycogen storage. Therefore, the more you exercise the more carbohydrate you can eat. When the carbohydrate stores are full and we eat more carbs, our body stores this extra energy as fat. Fat is a very efficient way for our bodies to store extra energy. As our body stores fat, we have hormonal mechanisms that entice us to eat more food (hunger) and then store even more energy and we become more overweight and so forth. It is a hard cycle to break.
This cycle accounts for much of the weight problem in the last 20-30 years in our society. The recommendation to eat low fat or no fat has made us eat more carbohydrate and therefore more fat storage. Fat has a good role in our diet. In the right portions, it helps to make us feel full. It is when we have too much fat that it becomes a health concern.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
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Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
