Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Calories Are Calories

Well....no, not really. Technically they are all the same just like pounds or gallons are all the same. Calorie is just a measurement and has no value in itself beyond that which it is used to measure.

This is where I've fooled myself in the past. Counting calories is a good way of managing or losing weight. It is a fact that if you take in less calories than you burn...weight will decline. Similarly, if you take in more than you burn...you get fatter. Not exactly rocket science, but there is nothing so simple that I can't tweak out of all proportion and make complicated.

Fer instance, I've done this: This bag of chips has nearly 300 calories so I can skip a meal and still be on track. I can go out an have a burger because I didn't have breakfast. Or the ever popular....I've stayed on my daily caloric goal even though all I ate today was cake and soda pop, whoohoo!

Calories are calories and it's reasonable to count them...but how the body extracts those calories is another story. When you look at the photo above of that delicious doughnut bacon cheeseburger, do you see a reasonable calorie count for a meal or something that makes your arteries quiver? I could eat one of these every day and still fall way below the number of calories to lose lots of weight.

Think I would?

4 comments:

Sasha said...

They started a weight watchers group at work so I joined. They have an incentive where if you go to 8 meetings and lose weight (some weight, no set amt), then our employer will reimburse half of our fees. I do like their points system. Points take into account not only calories, but fiber and fat. The more fiber, the less points an item is. The more fat, the more points.

Honestly, if the meetings weren't held at work during my shift, I prolly wouldn't go. But, I'm excited still and am working the program.

Jay said...

Good for you, Sasha! It's always a bit easier if you have other people around doing the same program. WW is a good and, more important, a sane way to lose weight. I would suggest some exercise too...but with three boys, you probably already get that.

Sasha said...

I love the gym, they have a child drop off! lol. I get to go, work out, listen to whatever music I want, take a hot shower with no one screaming my name, and be *alone* for a while. Great motivator. When I really need some quiet time, I head there!

Jay said...

You know your life is really hectic when you go to the gym to relax.