Calories Vs Fat?

The_Pitbull · 04-06-2007, 10:23 AM

I was wondering which is going to make you gain more weight, the calories or the fat in food. And if there is any connection between the two things, Like does 10 calories equal a gram of fat. I'm not really sure if there is any connection but would like to know if there is, any help on this subject would be great.

Kurtis636 · 04-06-2007, 10:40 AM

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

So right there is the reason that high fat foods have so many calories, why drinking booze is terrible if you're trying to lose weight, and why you can eat lots of lean protein and not gain a lot of weight. There are also differences in the amount of time it takes your body to process foods. Carbohydrates are broken down into usable simple sugars very quickly, it takes you much longer to break down a chicken breast, which is why eating a steak makes you feel "fuller" longer than eating rice and steamed vegetables.

In addition, fats are much easier for your body to convert into body fat than if the calories you eat are in the form of carbohydrates or protein. It won't matter if you're burning more calories than you take in, but if you're eating 4000 calories/day and only burning 3500 those extra 500 calories are going to end up being converted to body fat. If you're eating a lot of fat it'll almost all be turned into fat (about 55 grams of new bodyfat), if you're excess is coming from eating a lot of carbs less will be turned into bodyfat because you're body has to expend more energy breaking the carbs down and then creating new bodyfat. Only about 3% caloric loss to convert fat to bodyfat compared to about 25% caloric loss to convert carbs to bodyfat.

sitnspin · 04-06-2007, 10:53 AM

I'm often a little too vague in my knowledge of hard nutritional science, so what I'm giving you is kind of the gym version of it more than the opinion of someone who's actually studied the subject. There are a couple of guys here who can probably give you more facts.

Calories are a pretty deceptive unit and not always that relevant to weight loss. Look at it as a measure of energy (which I believe is accurate). The more calories there are in a particular meal, the more fuel gets poured into your tank. But unlike your car, that fuel is only useful to you for a certain amount of time. If you don't use it (exercise), your fat stores will build off it.

I've used the jellybean example multiple times in the section. A jellybean has no fat, sodium, or cholesterol. But it has sugar, and it has a lot of calories for something so small. So even though there's no fat in it, eating a lot of jellybeans will make you fat (and they also have zero nutritional content).

There are a lot of calories in fat, and so fat provides good fuel to burn in exercise (this is why it's important to eat fats when you're training). The natural, unprocessed whole fats that you'd get in fish, nuts, avocados, beans, etc, are good for you. The body easily burns them as fuel when you work out. However, they're still fats so if you're consuming them and just sitting on your duff all day, you can get fat off them.

The bad fats are the kind that you get in cooked and processed foods. These are trans fats and saturated fats. It's harder for the body to break these down, so most of it just goes straight to your fat stores. You want as little trans and saturated fats in your diet as possible.

Keep in mind that while I was saying you need the good fats in your diet, you still want them in moderation if you're trying to lose weight. Maybe 30% of your caloric intake should come from these healthy fats.

I don't know if I really answered your question. No, 10 calories does not equal a gram of fat. It's more complex than that.

Kurtis636 · 04-06-2007, 11:02 AM

Actually, the 9 calories/gram is true regardless of what type of fat it is. 1 gram of lard has the same calories as 1 gram of fish oil. However, as you said there are differences in the way your body processes the fat, how long it takes, etc. Doesn't matter what kind of carb something is, it still has 4 calories/gram.

Like you said though, there's plenty of good reasons to eat "clean" which is pretty much what I try to do with my diet. No trans fats if possible, avoid a lot of "bad carbs" (white bread, sugar, etc.) in favor of whole grains, lean protein, etc. If you put trash into your body you're going to end up getting trash out. Put good fuel in your body you'll get good results.

sitnspin · 04-06-2007, 11:06 AM

Thanks for the clarification.

GSPALLTHEWAY · 04-06-2007, 11:16 AM

there are also 3500 calories in a pound of fat tissue.. calories can be turned into fat so it potentially can be depending on what it is, or fat which already is in that form can make things worse... so it all depends on various combos etc

Kurtis636 · 04-06-2007, 11:16 AM

Here's another useful little tidbit. The "calorie" measures you see on the food label you're reading is actually a kilocalorie, it's a measure of energy. It's the amount of energy required to raise the temp. of 1kg of water 1 degree Celsius at 1 atmosphere of pressure.

This is all well and good, but from a dietary standpoint what does it mean? Well, if your body was a perfect engine or a flame then you would have no problem determining what to eat. However, foods do process at different rates, which is why it's so important to eat small meals throughout the day rather than letting large meals sit in your stomach for hours at a time. If you aren't forcing your body to convert those materials into energy it won't. That's why forcing your body to run at a high metabolic rate is so crucial to weight loss. Eating right is wonderful, but if you're sedentary while doing it you won't lose much weight.

MTKrav911 · 04-07-2007, 01:05 AM

All I know is what my doctor told me if you were ever curious.

Eliminating 500 calories a day either from your diet, or by burning off 500 calories in working out will create 1 lb of weight loss per week.

That's all I know and in the past when I've lost alot of weight, i have found the Doctor to be accurate in that advice.

Kurtis636 · 04-07-2007, 01:54 AM

Well, the 3500 calories per pound of bodyfat is accurate, so yeah, it should work like that.

SmashingMachine · 04-09-2007, 09:48 PM

The bottom line, at the end of the day, is calories in vs calories out. How many you consume vs. how many you burn. That said, saturated fat and trans fat are much harder for your body to metabolize or breakdown. That's why there's the low fat craze. So, just try and avoid Saturated and trans fats. Also, try to avoid things that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, as your body burns next to none of it and it, for the most part, goes directly into fat storage.