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Summary
On episode 598 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan breaks down everything you need to know about calories: what they actually measure, how calories in/calories out works, and why the model eventually stops working for most people.
Allan is not a calories in/calories out purist, but he makes the case that counting calories for a while is a valuable teaching tool early on. It shows you what you are actually eating and how much of it, before you layer on the more complex realities of macronutrients, micronutrients, and hormones.
He walks through BMR, TDEE, why every number in this system is an estimate, and the common ways people sabotage their own numbers: under-logging, restaurant meals that understate calories, and cutting intake so low that the body starts holding onto fat while burning muscle.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com/calorie
- https://www.myfitnesspal.com
Key Takeaways
- Calories in/calories out is a valid starting model, not a complete one. Allan describes three layers: the basic addition and subtraction of calories, the macro and micronutrient layer beneath it, and hormones underneath that. The model isn’t wrong, it’s just incomplete for a lot of people over time.
- Every calorie number you see is an estimate, not a fact. Machine calorie burn readouts, food labels, and app calculations are all approximations. Allan treats them as guidelines, not absolutes, because the math itself is soft.
- BMR is the number you should never eat below. Basic metabolic rate is what your body needs just to stay alive at complete rest. For most people that lands somewhere between 1,250 and 2,000 calories, and dropping under it starts to cause real problems.
- TDEE adds your activity on top of BMR. Total daily energy expenditure is the number Allan recommends eating toward as a baseline, then adding movement on top of that to create a deficit, rather than slashing food intake first.
- Restaurant calorie counts are commonly wrong. One study found restaurants understating meal calories by as much as 20 to 25 percent, which makes it easy to think you’re in a deficit when you aren’t.
- Bodies get more efficient at using calories over time. Citing his conversation with Dr. Herman Pontzer, Allan notes that the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer tribe that travels roughly nine miles a day, burn about the same total calories as a sedentary office worker, because their bodies adapted to be efficient.
- Not all calories cost the same to digest. The thermic effect of food means protein requires real energy to process, so 100 calories of chicken doesn’t deliver 100 usable calories the way 100 calories of sugar water does.
- Undereating backfires. Allan warns against big, aggressive calorie cuts, since eating far below TDEE leads to fatigue, binge eating, under-logging, and the body shedding muscle while holding onto fat under stress.
- Use it as a tool, not a permanent job. Allan’s advice: log food for a while to reset your sense of portion sizes and learn what’s actually in your meals, then use logging periodically rather than tracking forever.
“So realize that calories do count. You don’t have to count them to lose weight, but it is a tool to find yourself stuck.”
Coach Allan
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 753 – How to Eat After 40 – 3 Meals, More Protein, Less Hunger – Autumn Bates
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 598
Published: 2023-07-11
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): —, our co-host, Coach Rachel
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)