We've all heard about this dietary concept called "Calorie In" and "Calorie Out". We've also heard two separate answers to whether this concepts works or it is a complete junk.
In a nutshell, concept of "Calorie In" and "Calorie Out" may work, however, it is more complicated than what people think.
"Calorie In" Is Not Created Equal
"Calorie In" means how much of energy you have consumed from your food and beverages. However, here is the flaw to this meaning. Depending on the type for food or beverage sources you consume, how our body would respond is different. It's all depending on what hormones are coming a main character is our metabolism.
Let's say that you consume carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, fruits, vegetables and juices will activate a hormone called insulin. Insulin is a hormone secreted in pancreas and their main focus is to store. Therefore, the when consuming carbohydrates, because the insulin level raises our body will be storing them as energy. However, depending on type of carbohydrate will also change with how our body brings "Calorie In" to our body. Let's say that you eat sugar or drinking juice/soda. This would be completely different digestive process than eating broccoli or spinach which the total calorie that our body receive will be different.
Now let's say that you are eating fat. I do realize that majority of people would not consume pure fat but let's just assume we do for the information purpose. Although we know that 1g of fat is equal to 9 calories fat does not elevate insulin level. In other words, eating fat will not be able to store it into our body as fat. In fact, metabolizing fat takes more energy or calorie to breakdown than carbohydrates.
Way the food is prepared will also have impact on "Calorie In". Processing food has few variations, such as, chopping, seasoning, grilling, and so on. More processing that food has gone through, more easier for your body to digest and absorb. Thus, the body can absorb calories more easily. For example, compared with simply baked potato and mashed potato, mashed potato will be more easier to be digested because potato has gone through more processing than simply baked potato, not to mentioned that more than 1 potato probably has been used for mashed potato and all of the other ingredients.
Just by looking at "Calorie In" only you can see that it is very complicated and almost impossible for us to be measuring the calorie consumption accurately.
"Calorie Out" Can Be More Than You Think
If I tell you "Calorie Out" has 4 subcategories, what would you think? Yeah, it is not just how much you exercise. Lets got through them.
First one is called Resting Metabolism. Meaning your energy expenditure while you are at rest. This involved, breathing, heartbeat, cognition, maintaining body heat and so on and takes up about 60% of your calorie expenditure. Resting metabolism can vary from person to person, depending on body size, genetics, gender, age, muscle mass, and so on.
Second category is Physical Activity. This is the category that everybody is familiar with and focusing so much on. Physical activity includes, exercise, physical labor, playing sports and so on. When physical activity, especially exercise, is done properly you can improve your resting metabolic rate. Type of exercise you want to focus on is muscle building. Even at rest, in order to maintain muscle, your body does burn more energy than those who don't have much muscle mass. Although, cardio has its place in fat loss, building muscle does have higher benefit for above reason.
Third category is TEF, short for Thermic Effect of Feeding. This includes digesting, absorbing, and assimilating of the food. When you are continuously eating highly processed food, there will not be high TEF effect because it is easy to digest and absorb. However, when you replacing your food with more natural based food source such as vegetable, meat, fish and beans TEF has more effect.
Fourth category is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT. This includes walking, carrying grocery bags, walking up the stairs, sitting up straight, standing and any physical movement that you would do on regular basis. Even if you do workout 7 hours per week, if your activity level is low on other 161 hours, then your overall "Calorie out" will not be as high as you would have hoped.
So "Calorie Out" is sum of above 4 categories. If you are only focusing on one of the four categories, you will have tough time understanding why your weight or size is not changing.
It is not just "Calorie In" and "Calorie Out"...
When it comes to weight management, it is not just "Calorie In" and "Calorie Out". Just by restricting caloric intake and increasing frequency of exercise to elevate calorie output will not work.
However, it is a good place to start to know how your eating patterns are like and what need to be adjust.
What is more important to know and follow is are you eating natural food sources on every meal and exercising on regular basis.
Plan well,
Kota Shimada
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