Weight loss is simple: just eat less calories than you are burning in exercise, right? This is the narrative that we have been sold for the past 100 years, give or take, and unfortunately it is utter cr*p. Read on to discover very simply why this is, and more importantly understand how you can lose weight without starving yourself.

Firstly, what actually is a calorie? A calorie represents the amount of energy stored in a food, or actually anything. Burn 100 grams of sugar to release that energy, and 390 calories of energy will be released. Burn 100 grams of broccoli, and a mere 30 calories of energy will be released. And burn 100 grams of wood, and 45 calories of energy will be released. 

Problem #1: Caloric content doesn’t account for what is actually digested

Wait - I don’t eat wood?! Yes, and here is the first problem with the calorie farce: it doesn't account for what we can actually digest.  Imagine chomping down a piece of wood, or maybe adding some wood shavings to your morning smoothie - hardly adding to the nutritional value! And eating too much wood is not going to lead to obesity, no matter how many calories of it you eat. 

Why is that? Well, because the human body cannot digest wood. Aside from the obvious problem that it is very difficult to take a bite out of a log, wood is made up largely of cellulose, just like grass. Humans do not possess the capacity to digest cellulose, unlike our ruminant friends. 

A log is obviously a rather facetious example, but let's translate that logic to broccoli: of 100g broccoli, 2.6g is indigestible cellulose (also known as fibre). That cellulose has a caloric value of around 5 - so of those 30 calories in 100g broccoli, 5 calories or 17% is indigestible by humans. N.B. The definition of fibre is any food that is indigestible by the human body. More on this later!

This calculation is only considering the fibre not being taken in as calories from food. At least one other consideration on the digestibility front is how well your digestive system actually works - is your stomach producing stomach acid, is your pancreas producing enzymes, and is your digestive system moving food along the tube at a steady pace? These three factors alone will have a huge impact on how well the body can actually break down the food you eat, and therefore how many calories you extract from the food you eat. 

Problem #2 - Different foods are burnt differently

Imagine that your digestive system is working with 100% efficiency, and you have accounted for the fact that you cannot extract calories from the fibre in your food. Here comes the next hurdle: different foods are burnt differently. I’m sure you have heard of the three main macronutrients: fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. 

I’ll illustrate this point by comparing sugar (the simplest of carbohydrates) with protein. Sugar is absorbed straight into the blood where it can immediately be used as fuel for cells. Easy peasy. Protein, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. Protein must first be broken down into its amino acids, absorbed into the blood, taken to the liver and broken down further before it can be used as energy. And this process actually uses energy in the first place. So if you eat 100 calories of protein, 20-30 calories will be used to access those calories - and so by counting logic, you would need to eat around 140 calories worth of steak to gain 100 usable calories. 

Problem #3 - Your microbiota will extract calories

As mentioned above, fibre is defined as food that is indigestible to the human body. So what happens to it? Your microbiota has a nice snack, that's what! Our gut microbiota is mostly located (normally) in the large intestine/colon. Here it feasts on the undigested fibre and treats us with the likes of vitamin K, among other goodies. 

The gut microbiota has an incredible array of functions, one of which is to extract extra energy from the passing undigested food. And everyone’s microbiota is different - so some of us are better at extracting energy/calories from food than others. So essentially, even if we lined up 100 people with optimal digestive function and fed them all the exact same meal, with the same macronutrients, each one of them is still going to be taking on a different number of calories from their meal compared to the next person, thanks to their microbiota. 

So how do I lose weight if I am not a calorie bank account? 

You’ve got the point by now, I hope - our human bodies are chemistry labs, not bank accounts. So if you are looking to lose some weight, what should you do? 

Calorie counting can help with weight loss, but if you don’t fancy going hungry and possibly scaring your body into what is widely known as a ‘slow metabolism’ (this is a totally illogical term, by the way, but more on that another time), then try integrating these pointers:

• Focus on fibre: fibre feeds our gut microbiota, meaning better gut health, while providing plenty of substance to keep us full for longer after a meal. The government recommends eating 30g of fibre per day. 

• Prioritise protein: protein is another macronutrient that is great for satiety (i.e. quashing appetite), so make sure that you base each meal around protein. To calculate your protein intake suggestion, multiply your weight in kg by 0.8 (eg. 75*0.8=60g per day).  

• Eat slower: it takes time for our brains to realise that we have eaten enough, so eating slower is a great way to allow us to realise we are full before overeating. Protein triggers one of the strongest signals of satiety, so try making protein your first bite. 

• Eat 3 balanced meals a day…: make sure you are fuelling your body properly with 3 balanced meals per day, all containing protein and fibre. This ensures that your body has all the nutrients it needs, so should not feel hungry between meals. 

• …and avoid snacks: avoiding snacks gives your digestive system a rest, which is really important for gut health. Snacks are also one of the key places where sugary, ultra processed foods are found in our diets, so cutting out snacking as a whole cuts out the option of these. 

• Drink enough water! So many of my clients come up as dehydrated on their blood tests. Hydration is key for many things, but in weight loss making sure you are hydrated is another way to keep your appetite in check. 

Book a free call now to talk about how Nourish&Be can support you on your weightloss journey.