Calories in calories out is nonsense because your body is not a fucking bomb calorimeter, which is how calories are measured. Biochemistry is far more complicated and all of the anti-fat anti-meat diet studies are not randomised controlled trials over lifetimes but observational data studies absolutely rife with confounding by genetics, income, lifestyle, activity, sleep, and dozens of other risk factors to the point of being absolutely useless. The only guidelines with any real data beyond noise are to avoid sugar in all forms including sugar substitutes, don't eat from the hour you wake up until the hour you go to sleep (fasting for up to 16 hours per day is good, more than that can be harmful) and don't eat so much gluten in shit like bread that your intensines can't absorb any nutrients any more. Don't smoke, avoid alcohol, and exercise one or two times per week. See https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332380-000-why-everything-you-know-about-nutrition-is-wrong/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=currents
it's not nonsense just because you're measuring it wrong. your body isn't a perfect calorimeter but it does obey the laws of thermodynamics.
when i was in a good enough headspace to be measuring everything and exercising regularly, I found I was slightly over-estimating my intake, whether that's labelling error, cooking loss, my body not absorbing as much as expected, or under-estimating my calories out doesn't matter because i was consistent methodologically so all the inaccuracy was in the same direction and precision was maintained.
the bigger problem with calorie tracking is that most people aren't chem lab dorks and will do a bad job on the data collection and under-estimate unlabeled prepared meals, forget to count condiments, extra butter, beverages, etc. or wildly overestimate on the output side.
i also think i read something about food labelling using a different method and some kind of correction for absorbtion, but i can't remember if that was enacted or like a FDA proposal and the labelling was "good enough" for me 5 or 10 years ago for the significant figures I was precise enough to care about.
Calories in calories out is nonsense because your body is not a fucking bomb calorimeter, which is how calories are measured. Biochemistry is far more complicated and all of the anti-fat anti-meat diet studies are not randomised controlled trials over lifetimes but observational data studies absolutely rife with confounding by genetics, income, lifestyle, activity, sleep, and dozens of other risk factors to the point of being absolutely useless. The only guidelines with any real data beyond noise are to avoid sugar in all forms including sugar substitutes, don't eat from the hour you wake up until the hour you go to sleep (fasting for up to 16 hours per day is good, more than that can be harmful) and don't eat so much gluten in shit like bread that your intensines can't absorb any nutrients any more. Don't smoke, avoid alcohol, and exercise one or two times per week. See https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332380-000-why-everything-you-know-about-nutrition-is-wrong/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=currents
it's not nonsense just because you're measuring it wrong. your body isn't a perfect calorimeter but it does obey the laws of thermodynamics.
when i was in a good enough headspace to be measuring everything and exercising regularly, I found I was slightly over-estimating my intake, whether that's labelling error, cooking loss, my body not absorbing as much as expected, or under-estimating my calories out doesn't matter because i was consistent methodologically so all the inaccuracy was in the same direction and precision was maintained.
the bigger problem with calorie tracking is that most people aren't chem lab dorks and will do a bad job on the data collection and under-estimate unlabeled prepared meals, forget to count condiments, extra butter, beverages, etc. or wildly overestimate on the output side.
i also think i read something about food labelling using a different method and some kind of correction for absorbtion, but i can't remember if that was enacted or like a FDA proposal and the labelling was "good enough" for me 5 or 10 years ago for the significant figures I was precise enough to care about.
Am I supposed to eat while I'm asleep?
:stalin-doing-a-line: aw fuck yeah this is the good shit