Is a calorie truly a calorie?
 

So far my thinking was "A calorie in and a calorie out is all the same"...Then.. i thought "No...a calorie of sugar in my body is going to result in weight gain even if i keep the other calories coming from veggies and meats and fat"...Now i am not sure what to think. I am so perplexed by all the information out there...

Is a fruit calorie still just a calorie? Or is it a calorie that will cause me weight gain even if i adhere to a diet of 1500 calories a day? Or will every fruit calorie end up being worth more fat gain?

Also..how can you tell if you are insulin resistant?

Good question.

...Waiting for JohnP to answer...

Not exactly.

Non-processed aka "healthy" foods (like fibrous vegetables) take more body energy to digest. Romaine lettuce is basically a zero calorie food because it takes more calories to digest than the calories it actually contains.

LOL Why? There's plenty of intelligent women here. :D

Not because of his gender, but because he's usually got very informative yet succinct answers ;)

So here is the thing ... a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. You need to burn more than you eat to lose weight. BUT the nature of the type of calories you eat, does change the amount of energy your body needs/burns. So it isn't so straight forward. For example, if you eat a lot of sugar, you will release more insulin which will put your body into the mode of less energy expenditure, storing fat. That is why people on low carb tend to be able to eat a couple hundred calories more than people not doing low carb. That said, no matter what diet you do, calories matter - and you need to burn more than you eat to lose weight. I guess my point being, is that how many calories you burn is somewhat influenced by the food you put in your body.

Yes / No. If you eat 1500 calories of carbs, or 1500 calories of protein, you should lose weight at the same pace. But, like SilverSky said, protein takes longer to digest than carbs, so a calorie of protein stays with you, keeping you full, longer. Also, processed foods are engineered to bring on cravings for more that simpler, "paleo" foods do not. So it may be harder to stick to your calorie limit.

I respectfully disagree with Hungry Hippo. If you eat only carbs, you release excess insulin. Insulin tells your body that you have plenty of energy is available and the body should store fat and stop burning it. In other words, the macronutrients of the calories change your energy expenditure. So while you need to eat less than what you burn, your body does not respond the same to all calories.

Also, OP, I see you asked if you are insulin resistant. You can have your doctor test for it. The rough and dirty way is they test your fasting glucose and insulin. If you are insulin resistant you will generally see normal blood sugar but high insulin. The best test is the glucose tolerance test though.

Anyway, if you are insulin resistant, it just makes the effects of carbs slowing down energy exposure more extreme. But just watch your body. If you are eating healthy, and an appropriate amount of calories, and losing weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you have trouble getting the weight to bulge and feel like you are eating the right amount of calories, see your doctor and/or try reducing cabs to see if you respond better.

You're absolutely right. I totally overlooked the insulin response.

I've never understood it when people say a calorie is a calorie! Sure we would all love the idea that a 100 calories of macaroni and cheese equaled 100 calories of spinach but if that were true no one would be overweight!

(That would be awesome though! I miss mac and cheese)

It's genetic. Literally. I was at a nutrition symposium on the weekend and it's all coming down to genetics. Some people have the LCG (low carb gene) and some people have the LFG (low fat gene). That dictates how your body will respond to different foods and how your body will lose weight. Some people can eat all the carbs they want and have six pack abs and a healthy insulin response...other people can eat as much fat as they want and never have high cholesterol or elevated triglycerides. It's trial and error.

The general recommendation is to start with a moderate, balanced diet of x number of calories and see how you do on that. If you lose weight, great. If not, tweak something. Replace grains with extra vegetables and more protein and fat and see how you do. If that doesn't work, cut back on fat. That's in terms of weight loss.

In terms of your health well, maybe some people could lose weight eating 1200 calories of oreos but obviously that will do your body a lot less good than 1200 calories that contain vegetables, quality proteins and healthy fats. You'd also probably be really hungry all the time. In that sense a calorie is definitely not a calorie.

I believe the key to weight management IS calories in/calories and that a calorie is a calorie.

That said, I believe the type of macronutrients we ingest impact how we digest and expend energy (calories).

Amarantha - Totally agree. I think you said it in a more succinct clear way. :)

IMO yes a calorie is a calorie. JohnP talked about the twinkie diet several times which is a very good example.