*free dvd!* (from me!)

[laxplayer39]

Hey guys,

This was a question I was posed to answer by my nutrition professor. His question is a pretty interesting one, and since I am facisinated by nutrition and the like (I am in college right now) I was wondering how you guys here would respond to the challenge. Personally, I went from 220lbs to 165lbs by virtue of eating a lot more protein and a lot less carbs - maybe not as strict as Atkins, but still pretty good and a lot of excersise (lifting mainly, lacrosse and basketball for cardio).

Why does an individual eating above Caloric needs in which those
Calories are primarily derived from protein sources still lose weight? In other
words, not all Calories are the same, or are they? And where do the Calories "go".

He doesnt want anecdotal data, albeit important, not epidemiological data, albeit a little more important, but the "why" behind all this....if it's known. There are the Laws of Thermodynamics, three in all....the first in question here. I mean I have a lot of pretty good theories, but I really just want to throw them around first for a bit to someone that might know this better.

And I'm still stuck on this a bit - if anyone wants to be my consultant on this you guys can get at me email sp375@cornell.edu or aim: moongbean99 obviously I'll hook you up with a dvd from my personal collection. (its a surprise but so is everything with college kids right )

thanks
lax

 

[FoBoT]

animals are made of MEAT

 

[laxplayer39]

hah - i cant show him up with that dude

 

[weirdichi]

PORN DVD and I'm in!

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: weirdichi
PORN DVD and I'm in it!

Fixed!

 

[laxplayer39]

lol no way - its a good one too though i promise

but thats not the point - i want to further intellectual knowledge among scholars

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: weirdichi
PORN DVD and I'm in it!

Fixed!

That deserves a :beer:

 

[laxplayer39]

lol

 

[RaDragon]

Hurray for Lacrosse!
<-- was 3rd home (Women's LAX)

I'm not a nutritionist, but you might find luck here, or here or here... Those are just examples of nutritional consultants. If you ask nice enough, they might be able to give you some information -- I'm sure they won't mind helping a student out, especially if you credit them in your report. Also, try going to your college's clinic/nurse's office and find out if they have any nutritionists on staff, or if they can recommend one that you can consult for free!

 

[laxplayer39]

thansk ill check em out

nothing like someone to bounce ideas off of for inspiration though

 

[rezinn]

Protein is not as good of an energy source (as in cal derived per weight) as fat, but it is about the same as carbohyrates. Normally, it's suggested that you obtain >50% of your energy intake from carbs. Anyway, what I am getting at is the energy density of the food you're eating may have changed. This shows that not all calories are equal, so you might look there.

Another idea is that since the body cannot store protein, it just uses whatever you need and the rest (mostly) goes right through you. The tendency of carbohydrates and fats are to collect in storage, while proteins are just used as energy (carbon skeletons) or in glucose, ketone body, or fatty acid synthesis.

Another thing to consider is water loss from glycogen loss, which can be quite a bit of weight.

Where do calories go? In your case they're all used up in your daily activities, lacrosse, and then some since you lost weight.

 

[NightCrawler]

1. Carbohydrates break down faster and easier, they also cause a rise in blood sugar faster which increases insulin production. Carbs are also converted to fat faster.

2. Protein takes longer to break down and isn't as good for energy production. It's more difficult to turn into fat.

 

[Trygve]

Does he cite a particular study or give the actual dietary protocol he's talking about? (Number of calories, length of time, etc.) If you eat enough calories above maintenance, even if it's just in protein, you would gain weight in the long term.

In the short term, a protein-only diet will deplete intramuscular and hepatic glycogen stores. Each gram of glycogen is stored with four grams of water and when the glycogen is used, the water is released. Depending on the amount of muscle mass you have, that could account for a weight loss between five and twenty pounds. But if you ate more than maintenance calories, you'd start gaining weight after that and it would be stored fat.

It would take more extra protein than fat or carbohydrates to do it. Partly because, for labeling purposes, protein gets listed as four calories per gram while, in reality, it's lower than that. (3.2 comes to mind, but I'd have to double-check that.) So, when the label says XX calories, if you ate only protein, you'd actually be eating less than that.

Protein beyond what your body can use will be broken down for energy; some amino acids get deaminated into carbohydrates, a few can only be converted into fats. Either way, the fats can be stored and the carbohydrates can be turned into fat and stored, too, so if you ate enough, you'd still put on fat.

The other hand-waving argument I can imagine someone making is that the thermogenic response to a protein meal is greater than a fat meal...but that wouldn't make a lot of sense in this context, since I believe it's even greater still for a mixed protein/carbohydrate meal.

So I think it's hard to answer the question without knowing the exact circumstances he's talking about.