Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with calories

Is alcohol metabolized like sugars? Or something else?

Nelson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:59:15 -0800

Is alcohol metabolized like sugars? Or something else? There's a variety of diet books that focus on the theory that in the American diet, carbohydrates and sugars are the primary cause of weight gain and other problems. The Atkins diet is the most well known; Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories also does a thorough job in highlighting scientific evidence that refined carbohydrates and sugars are bad for health. However, none of these books talk about alcohol.

How is alcohol metabolized? Does the body process it more or less like sugar or refined carbohydrates? Does it get converted to glucose relatively quickly and end up causing large changes in blood sugar, insulin, etc? Or does something different happen to it?

(Taubes' book has given me a newfound appreciation of the complexity of metabolism science and the ease by which common wisdom can get mistaken for science. Hoping to find some proper research, not just speculation.)

Rage Against the Elliptical Machine

Parasite Unseen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:57:45 -0800

What am I not getting about the elliptical machine at the gym? I've recently started going to the gym, and I've fallen in love with the elliptical machines. Even on days when I don't feel like working out, I can at least find the strength to spend some time with the ellipticals. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that I understand what they're doing.

I normally do about 45 minutes on the machine. I don't flat-out jam, but I keep a pace that I think is pretty respectable. According to the computer screen for the machines, my 45 minute "run" (plus the 5 minute cool-down) burns around 650 calories. It's not just one machine that tells me this; they all give roughly the same result.

This sounds great to me, but whenever I've mentioned it to friends, they tell me that it's flat-out impossible that I'm burning that many calories during a 45 minute elliptical session (they've suggested that it's probably closer to 300 calories). Are they right? If so, what is happening that's causing the incorrect reading on the elliptical machine's computer, and how can I get a more accurate picture of how many calories I'm burning?

golfing calories

cameronfromedinburgh — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:26:02 -0800

How many calories will I burn playing a round of golf? Brief details are: I'm a 43 year old proportionately built man walking round a hilly Scottish golf course that measures 6500 yards. I carry my bag the whole way and it weighs 20lbs. I don't generally get out of breath and I usually shoot around 85.

How many calories are in a human brain

KirTakat — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:31:59 -0800

How many calories are in the average human brain? As in, if you were to eat a brain zombie style, how many calories would that represent?

Which would make me fatter 10lb of fat, or 10lb of celery.

zeoslap — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:57:51 -0800

If I ate 1lb of fat each day for a week would I gain more weight than if I'd eaten 1lb of celery each day for a week, and if so why.

Many, many delicious calories

Captain Rayford Steele, Tribulation Force — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:12:40 -0800

Please give me your best long-distance hiking / bicycle touring / <insert other adventurous endurance activity> food recipes! The watchwords here: densely caloric, easy to prepare (ideally in a single pot over a white gas cookstove), delicious and made from ingredients that are readily available in small, out-of-the-way groceries. Bonus points for recipes featuring lightweight, easily luggable ingredients.

The biscuit shall rise again!

hal_c_on — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:48:31 -0800

How do I make fantastic southern-type biscuits? There are only a few ingredients (I think), and people regularly produce them...but my Cali-Yank pedigree will not allow me to make them? I'm referring to savory soft biscuits, not the cookie-tin biscuits, of course.

I've done tons of recipes but nothing turns out like I've tasted. Water, flour, baking powder, crisco/shortening, baking soda, butter, and (butter)milk are all the ingredients I need (right)?

I've seen people using lard, but I don't eat lard...and the restaurants/individuals who have made biscuits I ate told me that besides dairy, there are no animal products in the recipe.

How do I make fantastic biscuits...and the hell with cutting calories/fat. I just want good biscuits.

Am I dieting too well?

maxwelton — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:50:29 -0800

Do I need to eat more? I'm doing the "hack" diet, finally having grown tired of being circumferentially-challenged all of my life, and it's going great. Perhaps too great? I'm eating a comfortable amount (as in, I don't feel a lack of energy, or unrelenting hunger pains), but a calorie miscalculation on my part in one of my almost-daily meals means I'm eating about 100 calories less per day than I expected.

I thought I was eating between 1450 and 1600 calories a day, and in reality I've been eating between 1350 and 1500 calories a day, with a rough average of 1400 or so. One day a week the calories jump to 1700 or 1800 for a "special" meal, and I suspect I may be eating a few more calories than I think I am, with a cup of cereal really a cup and a smidge or a tablespoon of peanut butter really a heaping tablespoon, etc., etc. Charts show I am eating about 1200 calories a day less than my burn rate.

I had read that a man shouldn't eat less than 1200 calories a day to ensure adequate nutrients (which means I'm probably fine at my current intake), but I've also read that number should be 1500. I have no way of gauging which number is correct.

I'm in my early 40's, 6'1 and reasonably large framed. Aside from being a ball of goo, I'm in good health. I take a daily multivitamin and a fiber supplement. I started the diet just before April 1, clocking in at a well-marbled 246 pounds. As of today I'm at 216 pounds. I'm also following the exercise recommendations in the diet, and have been able to progress with those at a rung per week without discomfort.

My goal weight is 185, and I'll be there in September assuming it falls off as fast as it has. That would be fabulous. I feel fine (better than I have in a long time, actually), but also don't want to do any permanent harm if this is too fast a rate.

So, healthier people than I, is this calorie level OK for the duration of the diet, or should I bump it a bit?

The horror, the horror of weight loss

Franklin76 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:43:48 -0800

I can't stand calorie-counting (the meticulousness, worrying whenever I'm eating at a friend's house or having a business meeting at a restaurant), but I'm also awful with keeping portions (and hunger) in check. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I doomed to stay overweight until I can break one of these idiotic habits? Any tips to help make it easier? :-(

Where can I look up calorie information for typical Japanese foods?

Vorteks — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:24:26 -0800

I'm looking for a website or perhaps a printed book that gives typical nutritional values for a large variety of Japanese foods. I'm counting calories, and logging everything I eat. For most typical American foods and restaurants, it's pretty easy to get a rough estimate of the nutritional value of what I eat. If I eat out, most major restaurant chain provide nutritional info on their websites. And if not, or I'm eating at home, places like The Daily Plate and Calorie King can be used to find similar foods and make a reasonable estimate.

But, when I eat Japanese foods, I'm totally lost. The above sources might be useful for foods well-known in America, like "california roll" or "shrimp tempura". But what about okonomiyaki? unagi? katsu curry? chanpuru? natto? I'm lost. Does anyone know where nutritional information for these sorts of foods might be obtained? A website is preferable, but if there's some sort of guidebook or something I could buy that'd be helpful too.

I read Japanese at perhaps a 5th-grade level and I have dictionary tools to help me out, so I don't mind using a Japanese website if you know of one.

How is sodium in foods calculated?

captain cosine — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:19:55 -0800

Question about nutrition information - For products like pickles and olives, which are usually packaged in jars with brine, does the total sodium content listed on the facts (amount per serving x number of servings) include the amount in the liquid? Also, for items such as tortilla chips, where a lot of salt and seasoning tends to fall off the chips and collect at the bottom of the bag during shipping, does the total sodium content include the stuff at the bottom? or do they instead take a serving size from the bag, as someone eating the chips would do, and analyze it that way?

Also, a distantly related question (linked only by nutrition labels as the subject): I know that beer companies are not required to put the nutrition info on the bottle itself, but are they required to do an analysis of their products and have the information available somewhere? I'd really like to know how many calories are in that bottle of Chimay Blue or Stone Smoked Porter.

Eating Enough?

tessalations999 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:13:31 -0800

Am I eating enough? I have been on an excersise program for about 5 months. I weight 120 pounds and am 5 feet, 2 inches.
The reccommended caloric intake for me is 1200 calories a day to lose weight. At the gym, I am burning around 300 calories, and I go 4 times a week. I am still eating 1200 calories even when I excersise. Is this enough, or should I take into account how many calories I am burning at the gym? I have heard that your metabolism decreases if you dont eat enough calories.
Also, I try to follow a very good diet, lots of lean protein and salads and fruits.
Thank you so much for your help, I want to be healthy.

[Weight Loss Filter] What foods are okay before bed?

valadil — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:37:51 -0800

I get really bad midnight munchies. I know I shouldn't eat before bed, but sometimes I just have to. What should I eat or avoid eating to minimize damage?

How to measure calories burned to heal from various injuries?

Grod — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:17:30 -0800

How many calories are burned to heal an injury? Presumably a minor abrasion would require less energy than a deep cut to heal. What about a broken bone? Liposuction? Heart transplant? Is there a chart with this sort of information somewhere?

How much fat in these cookies?

nitsuj — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:25:00 -0800

Can you estimate the number of fat grams (and calories, if you're feeling spunky) in one of these cookies? My fiancee says 30 grams. I say closer to 100. (Let's use Chocolate Chip for the example.)

How to use Statistics to Figure out Maximum Calories?

GregX3 — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:34:07 -0800

I've recorded my weight and the number of calories I've eaten each day for the past 6 months. I want to use to data to figure out the maximum number of calories I can eat each day without gaining weight. Any ideas on how to do this with statistics? I run into problems because my calorie counting is somewhat inexact, I'm probably only accurate to +/- 200 on a given day. Also there is temporary weight gain and loss due to water and sodium intake which needs to be ignored somehow. I also missed a few days here and there which I need to figure out how to handle.

Let me know if it would help to see the data. I can send it to you.

Diet tips for increasing lean body mass

ludwig_van — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:55:23 -0800

Recipe/diet suggestions for increasing muscular bodymass. I'm a 23-year-old male. I started barbell training with the stronglifts beginner program in June, at 6' and 145 lbs. I've seen largely steady strength increases. My bodyweight went up to 160 in a couple of months, but my mass gains have slowed. I'm currently around 162 lbs. and 11-12% bodyfat and following the practical programming advanced novice program. My current goals are to get my bodyweight to the 170-175 range, and then try and get my bodyfat to 9-10%.

I think it's my diet, rather than my lifting, that's holding me back at the moment. I lift three times a week and don't miss workouts. My current best 3x5 lifts are: squat - 220, front squat - 160, bench - 160, OH press - 115. My best deadlift is 265 for 1x5.

I aim for 3000 calories a day and usually try to log everything I eat, but some days I don't keep track of everything, some days I know I fall short, and I know I could be eating even more than that. I eat very little junk food, but I don't eat often enough and am very lazy when it comes to cooking.

I make myself a protein shake after each workout and usually in the morning on my off days. I make them with a cup of 2% milk, a banana, 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter, and 2 scoops of whey protein.

I'm looking for recommendations for eating tips to help me gain weight. My criteria, in descending order of importance:

1. Fast/easy to prepare
2. Tasty
3. Inexpensive

For instance, cans of tuna and the aforementioned protein shakes work great. But what else? Also, is there any reason I shouldn't start drinking two protein shakes a day? Or am I wrong about this and my lifts just aren't big enough to make me grow more?

Lose weight now! Ask me hOH MY GOD

Shepherd — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:18:14 -0800

How does heart rate correlate to calories burned, and can I lose weight by just being incredibly nervous? I understand that heart rate and calorie burning during exercise are related, but I'm a bit fuzzy on how this works when you get into various kinds of exercise and specifics. Running with a Polar watch, I can get my HR up into the 160s at a good jog, 170s with moderate effort, and 180s when I'm going full-bore or running uphill. On a rowing machine, however -- and I've used the ergometer a LOT over the years, mostly in winter, so this isn't a "never done it before" effect -- I get to the 150s at moderate effort, 160s when I push it, and full-out-crazy puts me at the mid-170s.

So the rowing machine feels like more of a workout -- I get winded faster when I go hard, I can't go hard for as long and I'm a lot more physically exhausted after. But by the HR numbers, running is a "harder" workout.

Is the higher HR necessarily the better workout from a straight calories-burned perspective?

And if I hired a bunch of creepy clowns to follow me around and jump out at inopportune moments, would I lose weight passively thanks to having my heart constantly going like a triphammer?

Cut out the middleman - just eat the oil

twine42 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:13:50 -0800

Calorie value of food compared to the value to create it. Does it really take more to create than is gained from consuming? If so, do biofuels make an energy profit? Several years ago I saw a BBC program about farming in the US (although I assume it's the same for all 1st world countries) where they stated that before 1970 the calorie content of a field of wheat was more than the calorie content of the various petrochem requirements to create it. After 1970 it was the other way around, with fuel and chemicals having a greater calorific value than the harvest worth.

Can anyone help me find a cite for this "fact"? I've had no luck with Google.

Additionally, I assume that this ratio differs from crop to crop, but how major an impact does this make on the first generation biofuels market? Presumably a similarly huge amount of the harvest worth cancelled out by the energy requirements of growing and harvesting the crop? How does one find out what percentages are lost?

Should I benchmark my body?

catlet — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:34:37 -0800

Many MeFites are curious about metabolism, and so am I. I am particularly curious about metabolic rate testing: its accuracy, the experience, and whether it's worthwhile for me. I am 40, female, 5'8", and a mesomorph with stellar bone density. I've struggled with my weight all my life, although I was not clinically overweight until college and not obese until my mid-20s. I then spiked up to 297; about five years ago, I dropped 50 pounds that have never come back. Three years ago, my doctor advised me to do medically-supervised liquid fasting; I got down to 185 and a size 12, but regained the weight over the next couple of years (I did not realize losing that much also lost my coping strategies for the insane amount of stress I had/have). Over the past few months, I have gotten back on track and am working out more regularly and strenuously than I have ever managed. I'm giving you this background info because I am teetering between confused and worried, thus my AskMe today.

As I said in this comment, I do about 7 hours of hard cardio a week and lift 3x, and have done so since April. I am also monitoring what I eat, primarily by doing Weight Watchers, but I've also started using FitDay to get a detailed breakdown. I range between 1400-1800 calories a day, most of it non-processed "real" food; I have maybe 2 drinks or glasses of wine a week. I have lost two pounds in three months, although I'm down 3 sizes. I swing between worrying that I've completely ruined my metabolism over the past 27 years, and wondering whether I'm actually undereating and triggering starvation mode (again). My gym network offers metabolic testing with the BodyGem tool, and I'm thinking about doing it to get closer to my body's truth than the 10kcal/pound formula. This article (refereed journal) indicates that the BodyGem is more accurate than the formulas.

So, after all that... have you had metabolic testing done? Did the results surprise you, or was it what you thought? Did you use the results to change your eating successfully? Does it need to be done regularly (quarterly/yearly/etc) to be truly useful? I appreciate any info you can pass along - anecdotal, scientific, practitioner stories, you name it.

How many calories am I burning?

Carsey — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:07:21 -0800

Does one burn the same amount of energy going slower & longer as going faster & shorter? If I walk 5 miles in 2 hours, do I burn the same amount of calories as if I jog the same 5 miles in one hour, or if I run it in 30 minutes?

How is a steady-state weight calculated?

zaebiz — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:18:57 -0800

I am A years old, am H inches tall and I weigh W pounds. I burn a total of B calories per day on average (that's including exercise as well as just daily living and sleeping). I consume E calories per day. What would my steady-state weight be expected to be, and how long would it take to reach it?

How accurate are gym equipment calorie burn measures?

twine42 — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:52:28 -0800

How does my excersise bike calculate calories based on weight, and how accurate is it? If I tell my exercise bike my weight, it tells me how many calories I've burnt. Mrs t42 does the same, with a lower weight, and gets a lower calorie count for the same time.

All good... except I'm not moving any more weight than she is. Sure, my legs may weigh a little more, but my bulk is stationary and the amount of effort required comes from the magnetic resistance of the machine.

So, is the calorie count in any way accurate? How do I test it without spending lots of money?

As, I guess, a secondary question - how accurate as the calorie counting heart rate watches? I understand that your calorie requirements can be estimated from your heart rate, but surely blood pressure, density and heart *size* must make a massive difference to the answers...?

Is a glue stick technically food?

ben242 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:34:12 -0800

How many calories are there in a glue stick? This question came up in a discussion with a chef about at what point edible things cease to be food. The chef felt that the substance must contain some kind of nutritional content. Is a glue stick food if it has calories? What about elmer's glue?

Can I gain weight from soda alone?

destro — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:57:06 -0800

Based on calories alone and ignoring any other nutritional deficiencies, could I gain weight off of drinking just soda and nothing else? Since current nutritional science links calories to weight gain, shouldn't a high calorie soda made with HFCS cause weight gain even without any solid content? And a low calorie diet of something like celery would cause weight loss even though it does have solid content?

Do I have something misunderstood or is it all a vague science?