Summit Strength Blog - Summit Strength

Andrea's Adventures - The Calorie is Not your enemy!

6/27/2024

Why do we demonise the poor old calorie? Flip how you think about calories, what they are and how they work and you could free yourself from a life of restriction, potential health issues and poor athletic performance.

DiSclaimer and Warning

The numbers and personal references made in this blog are examples only. Diet, nutrition, calories, macros etc - it is all a very nuanced area of study which must always take into account individual circumstances.

Please also note that there are references to disordered eating in this blog which may be triggering for some. I do refer to the practice of calorie counting, tracking, weighing etc. This blog is generic in nature and does not take into account individual circumstances. If you have a history of disordered eating or an eating disorder, I would strongly suggest you seek professional advice based on your personal situation.

Where Do You Get Your Nutritional Advice from? And Is It Legit?

So I’m making the assumption that most of you here in this group are fairly active people. You’re interested in hiking and the outdoors and you may also enjoy other physical activities. Hopefully your put in some training for your adventures as well!

You may have a nutrition plan that works well for you; one that prepares you for a day or days on the trail, that sustains you for the duration of your activity and that helps with muscle and tissue repair and recovery after you’ve completed your activity. And if you’ve ever worked with a dietitian (particularly a sports or performance dietitian) you’ll likely have some really good understanding of how energy is utilised by your body.

However so many people don’t have that knowledge and look to fitness ‘gurus’ and influencers for information. This can be, at best confusing, or at worst, dangerous. Oftentimes, we might look to information that has been passed down to us from previous generations. Or, frustratingly, by businesses that prey on and shame the vulnerable, uninformed and scared.

This is a topic I could bang on about for eons however today I am going to focus on just two things - the calorie and Low Energy Availability. Why? Because, in the course of my coaching and in the course of having women friends, I feel both frustrated and sad when I hear them say, “I don’t know if I should eat that - I’ll have to do a workout to burn it off”. And in all my years on earth (which is a LOT!), I have to say, I have never heard a man say this. I’m not saying they don't, I’m just saying that this seems to be overwhelmingly a ‘women thing’. And I want to help those who have been conditioned to think this way understand just how calories actually work. Hopefully, this will bring some sense of liberation and freedom from what may have been a hard and restrictive way of thinking about food, eating and exercising.

And super importantly, I want to talk about Low Energy Availability (LEA) and how this is a prevalent health issue for women.

What is a Calorie Anyway?

A calorie is a unit for measuring energy, specifically, heat.

There is a scientific process that happens which involves a special machine (a bomb calorimeter!) that burns the foods which then determines how many calories are in those foods. And whilst this process is precise, the calories you’ll see on food labels do not necessarily correspond with how many calories the body might actually absorb! However, it’s a reasonably good measure and one which is used universally.

The Calorie Is Not Your Enemy!

We tend to attach a negative emotion to the word ‘calorie’. It’s been drummed into us that calories are inherently good or bad and we are good or bad depending on how many or what type of calories we consume. It’s simply a unit of measurement. A calorie is energy, so let’s maybe try to reframe how we view it. Energy is good! We need energy! So calories, being energy, are what we need to function optimally!

How Calories Actually Work (versus what you might think)

It’s all about energy balance. It’s a simple equation, Energy Balance = Energy In minus Energy Out.

If we absorb the same amount of energy as we expend, we maintain an energy balance
If we absorb more energy than we expend, we have an energy surplus
If we absorb less energy than we expend, we have an energy deficit
(this is what we hear referred to as ‘calories in v calories out’)

We tend to think about energy output in terms of exercise/activity. If we eat this then we must do that to ‘burn off’ the calories we ate. Have you ever seen or heard someone do the calculations - “this Tim Tam (undeniably the most drool-worthy chocolate biscuit ever, especially when dunked in coffee and sucked through one delicately bitten off corner - but, I digress) - has around 100 calories so if I eat it, I’ll have to run flat out for 10 minutes or more to burn it off”? And no, I didn't just happen to know that! I Googled it and to my horror, there were loads of sites where people are still actually asking this stuff! This way of approaching food and calories can lead to disordered eating (or progress to an eating disorder)

But our bodies are so much more complex and wonderful than that! In fact, intentional exercise is only one part of the equation! And this is the stuff that I hope will change the potentially harmful way you might think about your relationship with calories. And like, what happened with me, you finally become liberated from the constraints of a negative approach to food.

So What Does Affect Energy Output, If Not Exercise?

This is an area I think many people don't fully understand. But it's super important! Here are the things that 'burn calories' - you'll see that intentional exercise/purposeful activity is only one part of the equation!

Basal Metabolic Functions: (known as the resting metabolic rate). This is the energy that is needed to keep us alive and functioning. Energy is used for things our body does such as powering our brain, making chemical reactions happen, transporting nutrients, repairing tissues, breathing, regulating fluid balance, eliminating waste, regulating body temperature. Keeping our body in a constant state of homeostasis burns a lot of calories!
Thermic Effect of Food: this is the energy required for digesting and absorbing the foods we eat. Yes, our body is using energy during and after we eat! Interestingly, our body uses the most energy in breaking down protein, followed by carbs and then fat.
Purposeful Activity: yes, of course intentional exercise does use energy too! But, as shown here, it’s only a small part of the equation.
Non-Exercise Physical Activity: (known as NEPA). This is all the stuff you do during the day that’s not considered a ‘workout’. And it doesn’t need to be hard! Just sitting, standing, fidgeting, tossing and turning at night, hanging out the washing etc uses energy. The muscles that work to keep us upright when we stand or sit also contribute to energy output
Thermogenesis: the production of heat in the body

Carbs - Why Does My Scale Weight Increase after eating Carbs?

Have you had a big meal of carbs and the next morning your scale weight went up? Pizza, pasta, chips, potatoes, bread? You assume it’s because you ate too many calories, right? Well, you’d have to have eaten an additional 7500 calories to your daily requirements (so, if you have a daily intake of around 2500 calories, you’d need to eat 10000 calories that day to gain a kg) Sure, it can be done, but it’s highly unlikely you’d do that day in day out. So maybe it’s what you ate that caused the scale to go up. And this is where carbs have also become demonised. But stick with me here because shortly I’ll explain why you think you gained weight by eating a high carb meal.

Firstly, and this is for a whole other conversation, scales are one of the worst measures of body fat. Yes, even those fancy scales that purport to know what your body fat percentage is. A scale cannot differentiate between your bones, muscles, skin, organs, water and fat. It just gives an overall reading. And that’s ok if you’re using a scale as a very general guide. But don’t equate scale weight with body fat.

Back to the carbs and weight gain. Like calories, carbs are not the devil. Yes, they may have caused the scale weight to go up but it’s most likely because carbs hold water. For every unit of carbohydrate you eat, you also retain anything from 2-4 units of water (this water helps store the glycogen). You simply won’t have eaten a bucket of chips and gained body fat overnight. The needle on the scales may have gone up but that’s not body fat. It’s likely the water which helps store that energy. It's your body doing what it's supposed to do. Sodium can play a role in this too of course.

Here is a personal example I’ll share with you: in the lead up to my long ocean swim events, under the guidance of my dietitian, I now carb load for two to three days. It makes me feel pretty yuck to be honest - bloated and puffy. The scale weight shoots up! But once I start that swim event, it all goes away as my body uses that stored glycogen and water. And my energy level throughout the event and my ability to recover are waaaaaay better with all those carbs on board.

I know there are many people who are 'no carb' or 'low carb' and who follow certain eating practices and I’m not here to say you should change that. We are all individuals and need to do what we believe works best for us. However, if you’re not eating carbs just because you think they’re the devil based on the info of unqualified influencers or ‘gurus’ or because your mother or grandmother said so, please do seek out verified research on this instead. Weight gain will only happen if you are eating them consistently over and above your daily calorie requirements every day. But this isn’t true only for carbs; anything we consume over and above our daily needs on a regular basis can do the same thing.

As another disclaimer, again this is generic and does not take into account those medical conditions which may impact how carbs work within the body.

LOW ENERGY AVAILABILITY
Calories are NOT the enemy. In fact, they are your friend! Cutting out calories because we have been taught to think of them as the devil can be harmful. And especially if you are an active woman.

Research is showing that Low Energy Availability (LEA) is a real health issue amongst both elite and recreational female athletes. Yes, this includes you, as hikers! This has both immediate and long term health and performance consequences. I will go into this in more depth in a subsequent blog however Dr Stacy Sims explains it here. I consider this essential reading for all women, more so if you are active:

https://www.drstacysims.com/blog/are-you-draining-your-body-s-battery-power

LEA in women can often be traced back to outdated myths around restricted calorie and macro intake for women.

We need calories to not just function, but to thrive! I have a high daily calorie requirement - that number would’ve terrified me years ago as I thought I needed about half the amount that I actually need. But I only learned this from seeking advice from a professional and through my recent studies in this area. Most people, women in particular, won’t know what their ideal intake is to thrive. They will base it on some outdated information from decades past. And if this is you, you could be at risk of LEA.

If you’re not sure, seek the advice of an allied health professional who specialises in performance nutrition if you’re an active person. Ask for a referral from your GP. In general, your GP is not equipped with up to date information so do seek the services of a dietitian.

Summary

There are many ways the body uses energy, not just through intentional exercise. You do not need to ‘burn off’ your food to attain a balance of energy in v energy out. Aside from that, exercise should never be used as a punishment for eating.

Calories are essential for not only our survival but in order to thrive. Restricting calorie intake can lead to health issues and particularly LEA in active women.

So yes, you can have your cake and eat it too!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea is a coach with Summit Strength, who specialise in helping hikers get strong and pain-free for their adventures.

At the age of 54, she discovered a real passion for hiking. But she also discovered just how limiting physical fitness and pain can be on the trail.

After signing up to one of the Summit Strength signature programs, she discovered just how much of a difference the right training can make to a hiker's enjoyment and comfort on their adventures. She knows that the journey isn't always easy and 'life' can sometimes impact on our training goals. She shares her insights and experiences with us in her blog articles.

These days, as an Online Adventure Coach with Summit Strength, she helps hikers all around the world get fit, strong and resilient for their adventures.

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