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Why does calorie counting work for weight loss and why are calories interchangeable? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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According to a book I am reading, diet science currently agrees that there is one way to loose weight: A calorie deficit.

For example, if I need 2000 kcal a day and eat only 1500 kcal a day, I will loose some weight over the next weeks/months.

To my understanding, calories here are totally interchangeable, if we are only concerned with loosing weight (and ignore nutrients etc).

Calories are basically measured by burning food and measuring how much energy was set free.

My question is: Why and how does it work so good and why are calories interchangeable?

In more detail: Why can we translate the burning of calories with fire to processing the calories in food with our digestion system so perfect? Why is there no difference (concerning weight loss), if I eat 1500 calories as pure sugar or eat them as pure protein (where I would assume the body needs more energy to break down the protein)?

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[โ€“] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I lost about 60 pounds over 6 months before by doing a simple calorie deficit of 1200 Calories/day but eating very lean and green. Mostly just tofu and broccoli along with an hour of exercise (30minutes cardio minimum) 5 times per week. It definitely doesn't hurt to make sure you're getting enough natural vitamins in you to keep your system from losing valuable nutrients.

To answer your question: a pound of fat is roughly 3,400 Calories so it doesn't matter where they come from, only that they can be burned off through concentrated and sensible effort.

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