After reading an article on the “Is a calorie a calorie” debate the other day, I read through reader’s responses and noticed this one:
“The thermodynamics model not only is insufficient, it’s probably outright wrong. We know, for example, that when the body takes in some things in excess it excretes them to maintain itself in balance. Why can’t that be true for calories? Many of us know somebody who seems to be able to eat anything and not gain a pound. Most people can eat plenty of bread, pasta, etc and not gain weight. Perhaps some people have a metabolic disorder, one that causes the insulin load of a high-carbohydrate diet to interfere with the body’s attempt to maintain balance. They get fat on moderate-carb or high-carb diets, while low-carb diets allow them to lose that fat.”
The commenter nails the issue, but doesn’t understand the mechanism. He is correct in saying that the body tries to maintain balance by burning off excess calories, but he then claims that it is the low carb diet that permits this to happen. He is saying that there is something fundamentally different between the calories coming from carbs and those coming from fat or protein. This is not the case.
The idea of some people eating whatever they want and others gaining weight by just looking at food is a fascinating subject. Well, I’m one of those people that everyone hates. It is true that I can eat whatever I want and not add on any pounds. In fact, I have to work hard to maintain my weight between 175-180 pounds. What is it that separates me from the majority of most other people? I have a few ideas.
1. I’m an ectomorph. As an ectomorph, I am naturally tall and lean. Not too tall. mind you, just a bit under six feet, but when you consider that only 14% of the population is six feet or taller, I guess that makes me tall. As an ectomorph, I don’t add pounds, or muscle, very easily. To gain weight I need to eat a ton on a regular basis. I’m metabolically efficient you could say. I’m genetically lucky in that regard.
2. I lead a very active lifestyle. For at least 6 hours a day, I’m up and about. My jobs depend on me moving. Although the calorie burn may not be tremendous from this movement, it definitely adds up over the months and years. In fact, simply standing instead of sitting increase the amount of calories you burn.
3. I don’t have a huge appetite. Some days I’ll eat and eat and eat. But the next day- what you don’t see- is that I’m simply not hungry. My “off” switch is very forceful. People who gain weight easily often don’t have that “off” switch. If I’m “on” in a big way on Tuesday, I’m “off” in an even bigger way on Wednesday. I have a very self-regulating appetite.
4. I have low body fat to begin with. This doesn’t mean anything really, but it simply supports what I’ve just said. I don’t overeat even when it looks like I’m overeating. My activity level is high, my body burns calories efficiently, and I don’t have a huge appetite. I’m “off” much more than I’m on.
The four examples above are what contributes to me staying lean. These are actions that I have some sort of control over. However, there is another hidden mechanism that occurs subconsciously. It’s called NEAT.
Consider the conclusion of this study:
“NEAT is the thermogenesis (calorie burning) that accompanies physical activities other than volitional exercise, such as the activities of daily living, fidgeting, spontaneous muscle contraction, and maintaining posture when not recumbent.
Humans show considerable interindividual variation in susceptibility to weight gain in response to overeating. The physiological basis of this variation was investigated by measuring changes in energy storage and expenditure in 16 nonobese volunteers who were fed 1000 kilocalories per day in excess of weight-maintenance requirements for 8 weeks. Two-thirds of the increases in total daily energy expenditure was due to increased nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is associated with fidgeting, maintenance of posture, and other physical activities of daily life. Changes in NEAT accounted for the 10-fold differences in fat storage that occurred and directly predicted resistance to fat gain with overfeeding (correlation coefficient = 0.77, probability < 0.001). These results suggest that as humans overeat, activation of NEAT dissipates excess energy to preserve leanness and that failure to activate NEAT may result in ready fat gain.”
What the results of the study show is that people who automatically increased their NEAT (non-exercise activity) in response to increased calories were resistant to fat gain. Those that didn’t increase their NEAT gained fat.
Put another way:
-Increase one person’s calories by over-feeding and their body takes measures to burn them off through NEAT. Hence they don’t gain weight in response to over-feeding.
- Increase another person’s calories by over-feeding and their body doesn’t increase its NEAT considerably or at all. Their body takes no action to burn off the excess calories and thus, fat gain results.
It’s important to understand that none of this is necessarily conscious. NEAT just happen in the case of the non weight gainers and doesn’t happen in the case of weight gainers.
Can you use this information to any real effect in your own life? Besides correcting the misguided assumptions of your friends and family, not really. Your brain isn’t making a conscious effort to burn off excess calories. It does it or doesn’t do it.
But now you know why some people have to be more careful with what they eat as opposed to others who seem to eat whatever they want.
Comments