[ExI] Good Calories, Bad Calories

Harvey Newstrom mail at harveynewstrom.com
Mon May 9 04:54:37 UTC 2011


Ben Zaiboc <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote,
> Anyway, "Total calories in and out accounted for all of the weight loss", as opposed to what?  magic?  What possible other mechanism can account for weight loss?  I'd have thought that we could take the first law of thermodynamics for granted here.  The statement seems to be simply confirming it.  IOW, apart from saying that biology conforms to physics, it says nothing.

Agreed.  This seems obvious to me as well.  However, this evidence was
posted (by another poster) because Taubes literally claims that
"calories in and out" do not account for weight gain and weight loss. 
He literally argues that carb calories are more fattening than the
identical number of fat calories.  He literally argues that exercise
will not help people lose weight.  So we are ending up rehashing the
basic laws of physics to argue against these pseudoscience claims.

> If not, then we all agree that calories in - calories out (in all forms) = weight difference.

I hope you have better luck convincing people of this than I have.

> As far as I can see, theoretical, anecdotal and personal observations seem to point to fat being better at producing satiety than carbohydrates.  This would mean that a low-carb diet would be easier to stick to, and more agreeable generally, than a low-fat one.

Agreed.  I think this is very likely to be true.  This explanation seems
to fit all the scientific facts without having to reject science, fake
history, and invoke conspiracy theories to explain it all.  Maybe these
people are actually eating less calories after all.

> Everyone is different, though, and satiety is a highly subjective thing.  So my advice would be to try a few different diets, try to avoid bias as best you can, and go with what works for you.
> 
> Does that sound reasonable?

Imminently so.  Any diet that lowers total calories will work.  I fully
agree that someone can eat a high fat diet and lose weight, as long as
they consume fewer calories.  Now try to get a Taubes follower or Paleo
dieter to agree that someone can lose weight on a high carb diet by the
same token.

--
Harvey Newstrom, Security Consultant, <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
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