Why We Gain Weight

Colm_OReilly

Great lecture by Gary Taubes (Author of Good Calories, Bad Calories) on why we gain weight/fat.

It's just over an hour long but I'd definitely recommend you invest the hour over the weekend to watch it.

http://www.dhslides.org/mgr/mgr060509f/f.htm

ragg

I'm in work - is it a video?

might be worth checking out when I get home

gnolan

Good video. Very much reinforcing much of what is said here about low-carb diets but definitely blowing the idea of calorie-restriction out the water.

Much of the advice given here would be along the lines of - "go to the stickies, calculate your BMR and daily calorie usage, and adjust this by +- 15/20%, depending on your desire", that is - gain weight or lose weight.

Although he doesn't speak directly of BMR and it's various calculations, if we take the case of losing weight, he argues that this 15% reduction in calories will effectively result in a decrease in carbohydrate consumption, which is the primary reason for the weight/fat loss, not the number of calories consumed.

I was hoping at the little Q & A session at the end that someone would ask something along the lines of - "if you've calclulated your daily energy expenditure to be around the 3000kcal mark, what can you expect to happen if you consume 4000-5000kcal but limit your carbohydrate intake"? Can you expect to gain fat tissue? Based on what he was saying the answer should be no, but where do the extra calories go?

Roper

Cool, I think we have that linked on the Informed Performance facebook page. Some good info there.

rubadub

gnolan wrote: »

Based on what he was saying the answer should be no, but where do the extra calories go?

I will have to watch this later. Many people wrongly presume calories are calculated by using people. A post I made before...

rubadub wrote: »

Calories are a unit of fuel, they are measured/calculated with engineering applications in mind, not humans. To calculate calories you burn say 100g of a substance and measure how much it raised the temperature of 1L of water. It has nothing to do with humans, some people are under the impression they might have fed people stuff and somehow measured fat increase and came up with a calorie figure for the food.

Alcohol has a lot of energy released when it is burned, therefore it has a high calorific value, it is great for combustion engines, but humans do not extract all that energy in the same way. Certain foods, like sugar, will cause insulin spikes and other responses in the body which can cause your body to hold onto fat, or create it etc.

There was a study giving 2 groups 500kcal extra per day as sugar drinks or alcohol drinks. The sugar drinkers put on more fat. As a heavy drinker myself and knowing a fair few heavy drinkers, I know this is the case.

So calories are used as a rough guide to how much you food you need to fuel yourself. Most people will have a mixed diet so it is a good average and works well, but if you get your 2500kcal per day from just 1 source you will have to keep an eye on things. There is yet to be a perfect way to calculate a real "fatness" unit for fuel. I would favour calorie counting over the WW points system which I think is flawed and overcomplicated, while trying to appear simple. WW points are calculated based on calories and fat content, it is outdated IMO. The GI and GL methods are also interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_load

I drink ~6500+kcal in alcohol per week and have no doubt if that was 6500kcal of soft drinks I would be a lot fatter. Beer bellies are made in the chipper after the pub.

Columba Rad

Very interesting topic

ragg

Just watched this - great post.
It cements what I already knew, but stuff like this really strengthens your resolve.

Thanks

cowzerp

rubadub wrote: »

I drink ~6500+kcal in alcohol per week and have no doubt if that was 6500kcal of soft drinks I would be a lot fatter. Beer bellies are made in the chipper after the pub.

Beer bellies are part made in the chipper but alcohol actually stops your body burning fat for fuel for hours and your body only uses carbs for fuel when alcohol is in your system, Drinkers tend to be fat or skinny fat.

And if you consumed to many protein calories you would get fat too, low carb diets work because there is only so many calories you can eat from protein due to there satiety levels-and the stabilised blood sugars keep you satisfied for longer.

Basically saying, most low carb diets are low calorie diets-all diets that make you lose weight are low calorie diets no matter how there sold, ww, atkins, low fat etc..

Some people just want to believe what suits them.

ragg

But - he says if limit calories and continue to eat an abundance of carbs, you wont lose weight. As the carbs spikes your insulin which in-turn feeds your adipose tissue

romperstomper

cowzerp wrote: »

Beer bellies are part made in the chipper but alcohol actually stops your body burning fat for fuel for hours and your body only uses carbs for fuel when alcohol is in your system, Drinkers tend to be fat or skinny fat.

And if you consumed to many protein calories you would get fat too, low carb diets work because there is only so many calories you can eat from protein due to there satiety levels-and the stabilised blood sugars keep you satisfied for longer.

Basically saying, most low carb diets are low calorie diets-all diets that make you lose weight are low calorie diets no matter how there sold, ww, atkins, low fat etc..

Some people just want to believe what suits them.

whats the answer then? very low carb intake?

cowzerp

romperstomper wrote: »

whats the answer then? very low carb intake?

I personally reccommend low carb but the carbs you take in come from salad, veg and fruit and beans mainly.

The food pyramid is outdated, good proteins such as fish, chicken and turkey with similar portions of veg, salad would be ideal.