Summary: First things first:<br> Calories In/ Calories Out (CI/CO) works and it works for everyone. It’s just that there are two problems with assuming that CI/CO is the be-all and end-all of weight loss.<br> <br> * Measuring metabolic rate is much more complex than any calculator on the internet.<br> * There are other factors that affect weight loss and fat burning (which are very different and will be talked about later.)<br> <br> What some people just don’t get is that it is all CI/CO. I don’t care if you believe that you are that special someone who has a metabolism that is half of the rest of the world. Your weight is still ruled by CI/CO (you just need much less CI, because you have such a low CO.) Or it might be that you use steroids or other enhancers in your quest for muscle-building. CI/CO is still the rule (except, in this case, your CO is so high that you need more CI.)<br> In both situations, CI/CO is what rules your weight loss potential. But the average online metabolism calculator will likely give you a calorie budget that is wildly inaccurate, which means you will not lose weight as you think you will. It’s the equation that is faulty, not CI/CO.<br> <a href="https://i2.wp.com/makeyoursomedaytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/hamburger-2253349_960_720.jpg"></a><br> Photo via <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/">Pixabay.com</a> by <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/users/DCortezPhotography-3911843/">DCortexPhotography</a><br> And it is not the type of calories that you consume.<br> I don’t know how many calories you burn on a daily average, but let’s assume you burn 3250 calories a day. If you ate 5000 calories of meat (just meat, you pick the animal) you will gain weight. The excess 1750 calories of meat will cause a ½ pound (approximate) gain of fat.<br> If you ate 5000 calories of veggies and fruit, you’d gain approximately the same ½ pound of fat.<br> If you ate 5000 calories of table sugar (6.5 cups), you’d still gain approximately the same ½ pound of fat.<br> <a href="https://i1.wp.com/makeyoursomedaytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/chocolate-1220655_960_720.jpg"></a><br> Photo via <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/">Pixabay.com</a> by <a href="https://pixabay.com/en/users/Skyangel-2092512/">SkyAngel</a><br> I’ve never seen any proof that suggests otherwise. Yes, my religion is science. Show me the data—peer-reviewed, double-blinded, control groups, and a large population tested—and I’ll believe it. Tell me your gym coach told you so, and I’ll smile politely.<br> But there is another factor that clouds the issue. People here talk about CI/CO and weight gain/loss when it would be much more accurate to equate CI/CO with FAT gain/loss.<br> Weight changes can be fat, but more commonly—and especially with large and rapid changes—that weight is mostly water. Water retention and expulsion is different from CI/CO. When you consider water weight, that brings in many other factors—and everyone out there who thinks that they are completely uncontrolled by CI/CO might be completely controlled by those factors.<br> <br> * Natural hormones fluctuations in bothmen and women. Hormone changes greatly influence water retention.<br> * Stress levels (which also alter the hormone levels)<br> * High (or low) sodium diets<br> * Alcohol (This affects the liver, which pulls in water to dilute and break down the alcohol.)<br> * Medications<br> * Health conditions, especially any that involve the heart, kidneys or liver<br> * Allergies, especially sensitivity to carbohydrates.<br> <br> All of those factors change a person’s hydration status, which is another way of saying it changes their weight. More water within the tissues means more weight. But none of those change a person’s fat stores, which is what people really want to reduce.<br> Let’s talk briefly about carbs. It is not that carbs necessarily make you gain more fat stores, but they can make you gain weight.
