Quote:
Originally Posted by Nille
Okey....true calories.....now I'm really confused
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As long as your fat intake remains about the same, Gov't Calories and True Calories will be proportional to each other. As long as you keep your fat in the recomended [as per some folks on this board's suggestions] range, you can just go by the calories listed on the fitday. The only time True Calories really become an issue is when you are talking diets of very different levels of Fat. For example, if you eat vLF (10% Fat), you will burn 178 Calories less than a person who eats LF (30% Fat). Now, a person who eats HF (65% Fat), will burn 489 Calories more than the guy eating vLF (10%) and 311 Calories more than a guy eating LF (30%). This, as another poster pointed out, is what Atkins calls the Metabolic Advantage.
I would prefer the gov't use "True Calories" because they reflect the true Caloric effect of a meal. As things are now, the Gov't just lumps the 267 Calories you burn eating 30% Fat into your Metabolism. The problem with this is, if you eat a vLF Diet (10% Fat) your Metabolic Rate will be 178 Calories slower than it would be if you ate 30% Fat. If you were eating 30% Fat and taking in exactly maintnance Calories, then decided to reduce your fat to 10% of your Calories without changing your Total Calories...over one year, you would gain 16 pounds due to the Metabolic Slowdown. That doesn't even include the effect of adding more Carbs (more carbs = more insulin = more stored fat.)
All these numbers are based on a 2,000 Calorie diet. The metabolic advantage is even more pronounced on a 3,000 Calorie diet. The metabolic advantage is less pronounced on a 1,000 Calorie diet than on a 2,000 Calorie or 3,000 Calorie diet. Plus once you go below a certain level (I believe 1,200 Calories,) your Metabolism further slows down thinking there is a famine, it tries to conserve its resources. So, in reality compared to vLF/vLC, there is an enormous Metabolic Advantage to HF/LC/Normal Calories.
In fact numerous studies have shown Low-Carb diets to be more effective than even Very Low-Calorie Diets, and Very Low Calorie Ketogenic Diets (I.E. Fat Fast type diets) to be more effective than a total fast.